Obama Understands Criticism of Libya Mission

In his first public reaction to the criticism made by some Latin American countries to his U.N.-sanctioned actions in Libya, President Barack Obama said Tuesday that he was not disappointed by the response of the region and noted that there is “strong international support” to enforce the no-fly zone.

In an exclusive interview where he spoke extensively on U.S. relations with key countries in the region, Obama said that allied military action had “saved lives” and that has led to “few, if any, civilian casualties.” When asked if he was frustrated that Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay have intensely criticized the various degrees of military action, Obama said that “politics internationally are always complicated. You have a lot of countries that have a lot of interests.”

But he added that “you have to keep in mind that we are initiating this under U.N. Security Council resolutions 1970 and 1973. This is not my judgment, this is the international community’s judgment that when a leader turns his own army against his own people, and threatens to unleash them on a city and shows no mercy, then the international community has to act.”

Intervention

About the strident criticism of Venezuela and its closest allies, Obama said that there “will always be the very few usual suspects who are going to be very critical of what the United States or Western countries do, no matter what. But here you have a situation where you had not only the Security Council calling for intervention, but the Arab League calling for intervention, you have the Gulf Council calling for intervention.” Colombia, Chile and Peru, among others, have supported the military mission to create a no-fly zone in Libya. During the interview, Obama expressed his hope that the pending free trade agreements with Colombia and Panama are approved by Congress but declined to say if it will happen this year.

Argentina

Similarly, the president expressed concern about a recent incident in which Argentina overpowered part of a military aircraft carrying supplies for a joint military exercise, and answered questions about Cuba, Venezuela and the future of U.S. relations with Latin America.

Learn Spanish

On a lighter note, while speaking of U.S. ties with Latin America, Obama revealed that his daughters chose to take “fairly intensive Spanish” at Sidwell Friends, the school in Washington, D.C. that the girls attend, and said he regretted not having continued the Spanish classes he studied in school.

Obama said Malia, his 12-year-old daughter, said, regretfully, during a visit to Santiago, Chile, “You know, Daddy, when we go to a country, everybody speaks English. But we don’t speak their language.”

Obama told me he responded, “Absolutely. I told her, the biggest regret I have is that I was too lazy in Spanish. I took Spanish, but I didn’t apply myself, and as a consequence, I can understand a bit, and my pronunciation is pretty good when reading from a script, but I am not able to communicate effectively in that language.”

It will be “important for Americans” to speak Spanish at a time when Latin America is playing an increasingly important role in the economy and global diplomacy, he added.