Shannon: Latin America is a Region of Opportunities

The Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Tom Shannon, said today that “Latin America is a region of opportunities” for the United States, a zone where his country “should be present.”

The official from the administration of George W. Bush tried again to improve relations between the two countries. In addition to participating in the conference of the Council of the Americas, a forum for American businessmen where various ministers of national government lecture, Shannon was found united with President Cristina Kirchner starting from 4:30.

In addition to Fernandez de Kirchner, the following also participated: Chancellor Jorge Taiana, the Argentine Ambassador to Washington Hector Timerman, and the Ambassador from the United States in Buenos Aires Earl Anthony Wayne.

The aspect that defines the region “is change” and that has to do with “democracy and the markets,” said Shannon speaking in the conference entitled “Latin America and the Change of the Global Economy,” organized by the Council of the Americas and the Argentine Chamber of Commerce.

The American assistant secretary for western hemisphere affairs expressed that in addition to strategic associations, the United States should have what is called “patience of strategy,” and treat with “much care and much respect the process of democratization.”

“One must recognize that democracy has its system of immunity,” said Shannon.

In this sense, he said that “the region was isolated in the World for many decades.” He indicated that “now it is connected with the world” and sustained that the region “began a dialogue inside and outside the Americas.”

Additionally he added, “We recognize errors and are changing to guarantee success,” while stressing that “right now in the democracies of Latin America transitions from those totalitarian processes are emerging these democratic ones.”

About the presidential elections in his country he said that “it is about two very distinct, very different candidates,” but he clarified that “it is important to understand that the winner is going to encounter the world we live in today and the challenges of the United States are going to be the same.”

Careful with the Analysts

Consulted about the confrontation between the president (Kirchner) and the Bank of Spain, after the news that the day before yesterday had qualified Argentina as a country of “very elevated risk” for investments, Shannon assured that “one always has to treat with care the opinions of the analysts because the world changes rapidly.”

And he added, “They help to understand but cannot be the only source of information.” Previously, high diplomatic sources had manifested to TELAM (Official News Agency of the Argentine Republic) that the previsions of financial consultants about a “possible default” of Argentina was “too exaggerated.”