Kerry and the Fulfillmentof a Latin American Agenda

While I may ask U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry why the Obama administration does not give Latin America even a tiny bit of attention, I recognize that the United States has a huge initiative in the area, by which I mean a comprehensive student exchange program that is long overdue.

During a Miami Herald interview — which CNN also aired in Spanish — Kerry also repudiated the criticisms leveled against him because he has spent so little time in the area. According to the State Department’s website, Kerry has undertaken 19 foreign trips since the beginning of his tenure as secretary of state in February, and he has only visited Latin America twice.

Indeed, as secretary of state, Kerry has visited 36 different countries but has never undertaken a trip to Mexico. Mexico is a country that presents many reasons for a visit: Among them, we can count the issues of trade, immigration, drugs, energy and the environment. Mexico presents one of the most important relationships in the world for the United States.

Questioned about the short time he has spent in Latin America, Kerry responded that those critics who view the issue as the U.S. paying little attention to Latin America are “dead wrong.” He added, “One of the reasons why I’ve made 19 trips somewhere else and only two to Latin America is that we have a very strong relationship with Latin America, which is running, I think, very effectively.”

Kerry pointed out that he is charged with dealing with crises in Iran and Syria on top of other crises. “There’s more turmoil in these other parts of the world where we’ve got some immediate crises,” said Kerry. He reiterated that he has visited Brazil and Colombia and that he was forced to cancel a planned trip to Mexico because of an emergency situation. “We plan to go,” Kerry added.

Regarding a more important issue — whether the Obama administration will adopt an ambitious policy toward Latin America — Kerry pointed to the 12 free trade agreements the U.S. has with countries in the region, including Mexico and Canada. Emphasizing that Washington has deep and vital trade relations with Latin America, Kerry pointed out that these various trade agreements could be strengthened and broadened in scope.

However, America’s chief diplomat recognizes that the most ambitious initiative of the Obama administration in Latin America — doubling the number of students in the student-exchange program between the U.S. and Latin America to 100,000 by no later than the year 2020 — is long overdue.

“We’d like to do better. We have to double [the current number of students] to meet the president’s goal,” said Kerry, pointing out that there are more than 67,000 students from Latin America in American colleges and more than 45,000 American students in Latin-American colleges. According to a report entitled “Open Doors,” released by the U.S. State Department, the number of students applying to American universities from China, India and South Korea is rising at a faster pace than that of students from Latin America.

There are close to 490,000 Asian students in American colleges, and their numbers rose 7.3 percent last year. In comparison, the number of Latin-American students applying to American colleges totals 67,000. This indicates a mere 3.8 percent rise according to the report.

Kerry said that the program has taken time to implement since Obama announced it two years ago. However, the matter demands a concerted, multifaceted effort with the private sector and universities. It is a matter that will take time until it begins to be implemented. The secretary of state is currently gathering funds from corporations and foundations of many different nationalities to pay for a large part of the program’s costs.

A senior adviser to Kerry says that the “100,000” initiative of the two Americas will receive a large boost in January once the Aliyanza organization opens its doors. That organization was established recently to provide grants to colleges in this part of the world for the facilitation of student exchange.

These grants, which range in value from $25,000 to $75,000, will not go directly to the students but rather to the colleges that want to participate in student-exchange programs or increase their number of exchange students. Aliyanza is a private foundation supported by the State Department, and its goal is make the movement of students to this part of the world easier. There are 240 colleges in both Latin America and the U.S. participating to receive these grants. Almost half of them are from Latin America, according to U.S. officials.

In my opinion, Kerry probably had a legitimate point when he said he has been unable to travel a lot to Latin America because it has been necessary for him to deal with emerging international crises in other parts of the world. However, if he wants us to trust the Obama administration to enact a progressive policy toward Latin America, then he must — at the very least — give additional, strong support to the “100,000” program for student exchange.

The time has come for Obama to involve himself personally, step up to the podium, and call on American foundations and corporations to chip in on this project. Anything less and the Obama administration’s most important Latin-American initiative — some may say it is the only Latin-American initiative — will not realize its goals.