The Ugly Truth
After President Barack Obama delivered the last State of the Union
address for his current term in office, the Republican leadership and aspirants
for the presidency immediately charged that his words read more like a “state
of the presidential campaign.” This is an interesting claim to be making in
light of the theatrical nature of the Republican candidates’ presidential
debates that have characterized the party in recent weeks, not to mention
challenger Mitt Romney’s issuing his own “pre-buttal” prior to the address,
criticizing the President on any number of issues. Even amid the many instances
of the two parties’ ideological-soaked clashes, one common feature is starkly
clear— they hardly have expressed a comprehensive approach on U.S.-Latin
American relations.
Aside from the torrid last minute anti-Castro bashing in search of Florida’s electoral
votes, the Republican presidential hopefuls have framed their stance on
contemporary U.S.-Latin American relations within the context of sertile Cold
War-era doctrines and dated clichés. These have not only included weak (albeit
intricate) positions aimed at Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez, but also claims that
somehow Hamas and Hezbollah pose a current threat by way of the Mexico border
as a route for terrorism; in short, nothing more than pure invention.
During one recent debate in Florida,
Latin America occupied part of the discussion, though this could just have been
done to appease the large pool of Hispanic voters residing in Florida, a swing state that could heavily
influence the outcome of the November presidential race. For example, former Senator
Rick Santorum (R-PA) said that putting an end to Cuban and Venezuelan
dictatorships is essential because these nations “would collaborate with Al
Qaeda,” whereas Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, that world-famous medical team,
discussed the fate of an ailing Fidel Castro and Hugo Chávez. As for Ron Paul,
he forcefully criticized the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba for the way it has
been used as a mischievous tool against the Castro brothers by the White House
to blame their internal problems on Cuba, a formulation that is largely steeped
in science fiction rather than the record. None of these should be considered
as anything more than examples of tossing wet offal at the barn door, hoping
that some of it would stick. The only relief to this performance are Ron Paul’s
classy words calling for the same kind of modus
vivendi constructive diplomacy that the State Department is
prepared to lodge at Washington’s other
ideological foes like Iran, Burma and Syria.
Meanwhile, President Obama focused his State of the Union address on
economic matters, such as narrowing the wealth gap, tackling “irresponsible
policies that spurred an economic downturn, and tax reforms. His sole reference
to Latin America were exaggerations of the recently implemented free trade
agreements that the U.S. entered with Panama and Colombia last year, citing
that these treaties, alongside South Korea’s, will allow local businesses to
contribute to the goal of “doubling U.S. exports over five years.” Obama also
proposed a trade enforcement unit that would curb the crossing of “unsafe
goods” across the U.S.
border and investigate unfair trade practices. Like the recent Republican
debate, President Obama’s speech also proved that immigration, a relevant issue
for Latin Americans and Hispanics living in the U.S. alike, continues to resonate
as a dominant feature of discussions on U.S.-Latin American relations. He
underscored that the decline of illegal crossings over the U.S.-Mexico border
was in part due to the fact that his administration “put more boots on the
border than ever before,” and called Congress to act on a comprehensive
immigration reform.
Ironically, the stars of both the Republican debate in Florida
and the State of the Union chose not to use the opportunity to highlight other
important areas in which Latin America can
play an important role, such as homeland security and energy alternatives. For
example, President Obama emphasized his push for clean energy projects, the
decreasing reliance on foreign oil under his administration, the development of
natural gas, and federal investments that led to an increase in renewable
energy use. Yet he did not mention the importance of Brazil, for example, whose production of sugarcane ethanol. According to Brazil’s Union of the Sugarcane Industry
(UNICA), the South American giant expects an increase of 12 billion litters of
Brazilian ethanol to the United
States by 2020.
Moreover, the War on Drugs was not even mentioned during the president’s
address and hardly touched upon in the the Republican debate. President Obama
seemed to be more concerned about Iran’s
nuclear program and cyber-threats, despite the longstanding and menacing issue
of gang violence and the illicit drug trade affecting U.S. citizens
living along the border area. Save former Republican presidential candidate
Texas Governor Rick Perry, who last year brazenly proposed the deployment of U.S. troops into Mexico, none of the Republican candidates addressed real security
issues related to drug trafficking and, like President Obama, focused their
concerns on Iran
and Al-Qaeda instead.
Should President Obama’s State of the Union and the Republican debate
this week in Florida be an omen of what U.S.-Latin America relations could come
to look like over the next four years? Regardless of who will become the 45th
president of the U.S., he will not be allowed to overlook the rising importance
of Latin America, much less when the region’s countries are in a position to
shore up the world economy, as is the case with the International Monetary Fund
seeking Brazil’s financial help to assuage the . In addition, the U.S. and other troubled economies can learn from
countries like Argentina and
Uruguay’s
fiscal discipline after having suffered two of the biggest defaults in history.
The U.S. should also
collaborate with Colombia
and Mexico
in continuing to develop more effective strategies for eradicating the illicit
drug trade and increasing security. Despite the great strides that Latin
America has made in the last couple of years, the improvement still does not
seem sufficient enough to register on the radar of U.S. policymakers from any
political stripe. Until that happens, it is unlikely that Washington will come
to consider its southern neighbors as an intrinsic component of its foreign policy
rhetoric, and that is ultimately a sad and ugly truth.
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