The Distancing of Colombia
The Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos might have been joking when he recently stated that Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez is his “new best friend,” but few in Washington laughed at the joke.
Within the capital of the United States — especially within Congress — there exists the preoccupation that Santos is growing closer and closer to Venezuela while distancing himself more and more from the United States. Since Santos became president this August, Colombia has given various signals that it is leaving behind the tight alliance that ex-president Alvaro Uribe had with the United States.
Among the symptoms of the new reality:
-Santos’ first official trip as president was to Brazil, not the United States. Since then, Santos has visited various Latin American countries but still has not yet set foot in Washington D.C.
-Santos has met up on various occasions with Chavez, and both have promised to rapidly improve the ties between Colombia and Venezuela. The relations between both countries were openly hostile during the presidency of Uribe, partly because the Colombian ex-president repeatedly condemned Venezuela’s clandestine support of the Colombian guerrilla group FARC.
-Satisfying Chavez’s desires, Santos recently announced that he would extradite the head of Venezuelan narco-trafficking, Walid Makled, to Venezuela — not to the United States. Venezuela and the U.S. have both asked for Makled to be extradited to their respective countries. According to the United States, high-ranking Venezuelan government officials worked to protect Makled's trafficking operations. Chavez wants Makled in Venezuela to keep him quiet or to pressure him to change his testimony.
-According to Colombian officials, Santos’ government has no immediate plans to subject the Colombian congress to a new law that would authorize the presence of American troops on Colombian military bases. The Colombian-American military agreement of 2009 that would permit this presence was recently ruled invalid by a Colombian court.
-Over the next several months, Santos hopes to finalize free trade agreements with Canada and the European Union. The 2004 free trade agreement between the United States and Colombia still has not been ratified by the American Congress.
Carl Meacham, an adviser to the chairman of the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee, explained to me that the lack of ratification of the treaty “has led Colombia to look at other options. They are definitely drifting away: Their orientation is not as weighted toward the United States as it was before.”
Representative Connie Mack, a conservative Republican who will soon become the president of the House Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, admitted to me that in Congress “there are many preoccupations” about Colombia. However, he added, “I am not under conditions to say that the country is distancing itself from the United States.”
Curious about what Santos’ external policy plans are, I spoke with various Colombians who are very close to the new president. The majority of them say that there is a change in Colombia, motivated principally by the lack of ratification of the commercial treaty in Washington. This lack of ratification comes despite numerous gestures of good will on Colombia’s part. In the past few years Colombia has accepted the presence of American troops on their military bases, sent police agents and Colombian anti-drug agents to Afghanistan to help out American soldiers and has voted along American lines on almost all of the topics seen at the United Nations. Despite all of this, Colombia has not even received a response from Washington about the free trade agreement, my sources told me.
The tight relationships between President Barack Obama and U.S. trade unions opposed to free trade have prevented the White House from investing more political capital in the attempt to achieve ratification of the treaty in Congress, they added.
Enrique Santos Calderon, the recent director and columnist of the influential Colombian newspaper El Tiempo, and brother of the Colombian president, told me this week that “the Colombians are a little disappointed with the United States.” He added that “there exists the feeling that we should distance ourselves a little and stop doing unilateral favors that are not reciprocated.”
My opinion: the new Colombian president is growing closer to Chavez for primarily economic motives. Venezuela is one of the largest markets for Colombian exports, and tensions between the two countries these past few years have seriously hurt Colombian exporters.
Within the capital of the United States — especially within Congress — there exists the preoccupation that Santos is growing closer and closer to Venezuela while distancing himself more and more from the United States. Since Santos became president this August, Colombia has given various signals that it is leaving behind the tight alliance that ex-president Alvaro Uribe had with the United States.
Among the symptoms of the new reality:
-Santos’ first official trip as president was to Brazil, not the United States. Since then, Santos has visited various Latin American countries but still has not yet set foot in Washington D.C.
-Santos has met up on various occasions with Chavez, and both have promised to rapidly improve the ties between Colombia and Venezuela. The relations between both countries were openly hostile during the presidency of Uribe, partly because the Colombian ex-president repeatedly condemned Venezuela’s clandestine support of the Colombian guerrilla group FARC.
-Satisfying Chavez’s desires, Santos recently announced that he would extradite the head of Venezuelan narco-trafficking, Walid Makled, to Venezuela — not to the United States. Venezuela and the U.S. have both asked for Makled to be extradited to their respective countries. According to the United States, high-ranking Venezuelan government officials worked to protect Makled's trafficking operations. Chavez wants Makled in Venezuela to keep him quiet or to pressure him to change his testimony.
-According to Colombian officials, Santos’ government has no immediate plans to subject the Colombian congress to a new law that would authorize the presence of American troops on Colombian military bases. The Colombian-American military agreement of 2009 that would permit this presence was recently ruled invalid by a Colombian court.
-Over the next several months, Santos hopes to finalize free trade agreements with Canada and the European Union. The 2004 free trade agreement between the United States and Colombia still has not been ratified by the American Congress.
Carl Meacham, an adviser to the chairman of the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee, explained to me that the lack of ratification of the treaty “has led Colombia to look at other options. They are definitely drifting away: Their orientation is not as weighted toward the United States as it was before.”
Representative Connie Mack, a conservative Republican who will soon become the president of the House Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, admitted to me that in Congress “there are many preoccupations” about Colombia. However, he added, “I am not under conditions to say that the country is distancing itself from the United States.”
Curious about what Santos’ external policy plans are, I spoke with various Colombians who are very close to the new president. The majority of them say that there is a change in Colombia, motivated principally by the lack of ratification of the commercial treaty in Washington. This lack of ratification comes despite numerous gestures of good will on Colombia’s part. In the past few years Colombia has accepted the presence of American troops on their military bases, sent police agents and Colombian anti-drug agents to Afghanistan to help out American soldiers and has voted along American lines on almost all of the topics seen at the United Nations. Despite all of this, Colombia has not even received a response from Washington about the free trade agreement, my sources told me.
The tight relationships between President Barack Obama and U.S. trade unions opposed to free trade have prevented the White House from investing more political capital in the attempt to achieve ratification of the treaty in Congress, they added.
Enrique Santos Calderon, the recent director and columnist of the influential Colombian newspaper El Tiempo, and brother of the Colombian president, told me this week that “the Colombians are a little disappointed with the United States.” He added that “there exists the feeling that we should distance ourselves a little and stop doing unilateral favors that are not reciprocated.”
My opinion: the new Colombian president is growing closer to Chavez for primarily economic motives. Venezuela is one of the largest markets for Colombian exports, and tensions between the two countries these past few years have seriously hurt Colombian exporters.