The United States Looks Once More toward Latin America

The onset of the disastrous war on terror, inspired by the events of Sept.11, 2001, and supported by Bush’s revolutionary and questionable theory on preventative self-defense, represents for Latin America, paradoxically, the opening of a decade of changes on all levels — changes that came about as a result of the revitalization of the region in terms of economics, the rise of “regional powers,” such as Brazil and Chile, which have been able to avoid the crisis, and the alignment of a series of factors that have produced positive changes in the region.

Starting on Oct. 7, 2001, when the United States began the operation “Enduring Freedom” — or, in other words, the invasion of Afghanistan — Latin America began to feel the negative collateral effects of this war on trade and American investment in the region, which opened up programs of cooperation, development and commercial exchange.

This new reality in North-South relations appeared to inescapably place Latin America on the path toward an obligatory repetition of what occurred in the 1980s, or what many call “the lost decade.” Nevertheless, Latin American nations appear to have taken advantage of the lessons learned from failure and have taken indisputable steps forward regarding diplomacy, politics and economics especially, capitalizing on the fact that the United States has placed its attention on other parts of the world.

There currently exists in Latin America, based on this tendency to autonomy, a reaffirmation of a sense of independence and sovereign identity, to the point that, in many nations, leaders have been elected who represent ideological currents that to the United States appear sometimes hateful, and diplomatic and commercial relations have been established with nations that abate the effect of the northern giant in the region. However, as in the case of relations with China, nations in the Middle East and other rising powers, it has served as a support so that Latin American nations were able to avoid with relative success the financial crisis of 2008, which, incidentally, still affects mercilessly US, the eurozone and a great part of the world.

This reality, in which the United States has lost an entire decade in terms of direct influence on the nations of Latin America and the Caribbean, has awoken the voice of alarm in the highest stratum of North American politics because, especially now that the presidential elections are approaching in which the vote of Latin American immigrants will be decisive, both parties, as much Republicans as Democrats, will not have the luxury of forgetting the nations that provide this important segment of voters.

In this sense, in a frank change in attitude toward the South and in an attempt to preserve its influence in the region starting with the relations with allied nations, Republicans and Democrats in Congress approved on Wednesday free trade agreements with both Colombia and Panama, which had been negotiated for almost six years and had not yet gained the necessary approval. And it’s only been a few days since President Obama nominated Robert Jacobson as Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, a position that remained vacant since the retirement in July of Arturo Valenzuela.

Finally, it is worth mentioning Obama’s affection towards Hispanics, with the recent appointment of Shakira as an adviser on matters of education for Latin American immigrants in the United States.