Obama in Latin America

More than two years have passed since Barack Obama’s arrival in the White House, amidst high expectations. The desire for change, which led voters to pick an intelligent African-American senator to lead the destiny of the world’s number-one power, also resonated in other parts of the world.

From that moment, Latin America has been awaiting signs from Washington that there is a new attitude toward a region of 600 million inhabitants who feel ignored by their powerful neighbor. And it is true that outside of two trips to Mexico, one en route to a 2009 summit in Trinidad and Tobago, the president has had little contact with this part of the world.

There are various reasons for this. Perhaps the most important is that Latin America has not been a major source of headaches. Despite deteriorating security in Central America and a war against the Mexican drug cartels, the region has a strong economic growth rate, and 40 million people have been lifted out of poverty in the last eight years.

As a consequence, the concerns that do arise pale in comparison to the emergencies in Iraq, Afghanistan and, more recently, Libya and Japan. The U.S. has troops in the first two countries, and the second two are experiencing political and humanitarian crises. This is more than enough to fill an agenda, which, even during quiet times, does not lack for issues.

In addition, there are other challenges. On the home front, Obama has had to battle the worst economic crisis in almost seven decades: the recession of two years ago. Despite some improvement, unemployment remains close to nine percent, and GDP growth remains moderate.

On another subject, political polarization in the United States has made it difficult for the White House to advance its agenda. That situation became more difficult after the Democratic Party — the president’s party — lost its majority in the House of Representatives to the Republicans in last November’s elections.

All of these elements taken together explain why there is not much time to think about the southern half of the continent. Therefore, the five-day trip that Obama begins tomorrow in Brazil, which will also include Chile and El Salvador, is significant.

In contrast to some of his successors, on this occasion there is no single message for the entire region. Clearly, the most noteworthy stop will be Brasilia, where Obama will meet with Dilma Rousseff, who has not quite completed three months in office and represents the most important country in Latin America, one with which there have been some tensions. The visits to Santiago and San Salvador are also key because they recognize the progress Chile has made and the threat from organized crime that the Central American democracies are facing.

Nonetheless, observers have pointed out important omissions, such as Argentina, Peru and Colombia. Once again, a visit to Bogota has been postponed, clearly because Obama has little to say with respect to the Free Trade Agreement, which the White House has not presented to Congress for reasons of internal politics. Because of that, although the visit is appreciated, it is surely insufficient to settle the debt that the United States has with a region and a country that feel ignored by the powerful “colossus of the North.”