A Bad Message from the United States for Latin America

THE BLOCKAGE OF THE TREATY OF FREE TRADE WITH COLUMBIA SHOWS THAT THE UNITED STATES IS NOT A VERY TRUSTWORTHY ALLY IN DIFFICULT TIMES

Several days ago, the United States Congress indefinitely blocked the vote concerning the Treaty of Free Trade between the U.S. and Columbia, its most loyal ally in Latin America, sending a very bad message concerning U.S. interest in the entire region.

What the United States has demonstrated in some manner is that it is not a loyal ally. Its offer of trade openness in all of Latin America, proposed by a Democratic President, has turned out to be only a dream adorned with a series of meetings that finished in lyrical declarations and hugs with the heads of state in the region.

And while the government of the United States shows this vacillating conduct towards Latin America, with progressive trimming down of its cooperation in South America, thanks to its inflated checkbook of petrodollars the Venezuelan ruler Hugo Chavez gives money generously to his ideological allies in search of a geopolitical control that comes face to face with the colossus of the North.

The United States has repeatedly erred in its vision concerning Latin America through pessimistic messages in commercial, migratory, and cooperation matters. And in the case of Columbia, it is clear that the United States is not an ally that one can count on in difficult times.

Obviously all this also brings a political defeat for the Columbian President, Alvaro Uribe, while he maintains his permanent fight against the drug cartels and a cruel and pitiless narcoguerrilla-like FARC.

While the United States maintains its negative vision towards Latin America, and especially towards its allies, governments like Chavez will continue building themselves up as dangerous leaders that threaten democracy and freedom.