McCain Would Repeat Bush Policies Toward Latin America

In contrast with his presumptive opponent, the man who will soon assume the Republican candidacy for the White House, John McCain, rarely speaks of Latin America. He gave his most recent important speech on that theme a year ago, on June 20, 2007, and aside from promising that he would make the Republican policy toward Cuba harsher, he rarely speaks of the issue.

His major focus, instead, is on the Middle East–Israel, Iraq and Iran.The last time he spoke about Cuba, nevertheless, he dedicated part of his speech to speak about Latin America.

It was on May 20th of this year, the anniversary of the island’s independence. After explaining that U.S. administrations have treated Latin America like a minor partner and not like a neighbor, the presumptive Republican candidate stated that the superpower has progressed toward the goal of building a common destiny with Latin America “by expanding the benefits of free commerce through the North American Free Tree Agreement (NAFTA), the Central American Free Trade Agreement, and our free trade agreements with Peru and Chile.”

Along these same lines, he defended the commercial treaty with Colombia that has not been ratified. “Colombia is a beacon of hope in a region where the Castro brothers, Hugo Chavez, and others are actively seeking to thwart economic progress and democracy.” The Republican threatened to also work to “prevent Bolivia and Venezuela from taking the same road of failure Castro has paved for Cuba, and we will broaden and strengthen ties with key states like Brazil, Peru, and Chile.”

He also said that he would make efforts to strengthen ties with key nations like Brazil, Peru and Chile. Later he returned to the warnings. “We will make clear to all the countries in the region that if they share our values of liberty and openness, they can count us among their friends. We will not abandon our partners to the hands of demagogues, drug dealers and desperation, but expand the benefits of security, trade and prosperity to all.”

Regarding immigration, McCain has proposed a two-pronged strategy. On one hand, he has proposed, along with the Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy, a bill that would open a road to normalizing their status for illegal immigrants, although it would not be an amnesty. The McCain-Kennedy proposal, as they explained it at the time, looked to place those immigrants who had lived in the U.S. for a time and “played by the rules” in a position closer to residency and citizenship.

On the other, the Republican is a partisan of building a wall in the urban areas near the border to prevent the travel and trafficking of people. With that, he seeks to support one of his priorities: secure the border, prevent the illegal entrance of persons and the smuggling of weapons and drugs.

In a few words, if John McCain stands by his speeches, his policy toward the world and toward Latin America would be a continuation of that established during the eight years of George Bush’s administration.