Myth: With the United States
preoccupied by the war on terror and Iraq, ties with Latin America have deteriorated
substantially in recent years
Fact: The US preserves strong
relations with the majority of nations in the Hemisphere. It has negotiated free trade
agreements with eleven of Latin America’s 34 nations and provides extensive free
trade access to most others. Nine of the agreements have been ratified and
implemented and the other two (with Colombia and Panama) are currently pending before the
US Congress. Assistance and funding have substantially increased for a wide range
of assistance programs. Strong support for Colombia, where the security situation
has improved dramatically, has helped bring this nation back from the brink of
failure. Despite differences on trade, relations with Brazil are on a solid
footing.
Myth: The United States refuses to recognize that poverty and social injustice are the root causes of problems in Latin America
Fact: Policy makers in Washington recognize that sustainable development requires adoption of a democratic, market-oriented development strategy. This was underscored for the 14th year in a row by
the results published in the 2008 Index of Economic Freedom, published by The
Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal. “Over the past years,
the Index has documented the link between economic opportunity and prosperity,
researching and analyzing economic policies in countries around the world. The 2008 Index
paints a portrait of economic freedom around the world and establishes a benchmark by
which to gauge a country’s chances of economic success. Economic theory
dating back to the publication of Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations in 1776
emphasizes the lesson that basic institutions that protect the liberty of individuals to
pursue their own economic interests result in greater prosperity for the larger
society.”[1]
There is a strong correlation between economic freedom and growth, between individual liberty and prosperity. Trade and private investment are the engines that create solid and sustainable jobs and economic growth, while nations that squash economic freedoms by and large are poor and have skewed income distribution. “Oil-cursed” nations such as Venezuela are, in a way, worse off since most of their citizens do not share in the benefits of the resource income but can see how it is squandered and stolen. Latin America has fallen behind in global competition, in developing human resources and in developing markets not because of poverty and social injustice, but because of the short-sightedness of its political leaders and their resistance to change.
Venezuelan President Hugo
Chávez’s rejection of neo-liberalism and the Washington consensus represents
the wave of the future
President Chávez has
certainly directed some oil revenue to Venezuela’s poor in the form of
non-productive hand-outs and wealth transfers, but the reality is that the Chávez
regime has not reduced extreme poverty and income
inequality. Meanwhile, billions of dollars of oil wealth that is the rightful
property of the Venezuelan people has been siphoned off by their far left,
neo-populist, and authoritarian President to enhance his own political power and spread
his “21st Century Bolivarian Socialism” throughout the Andean region.[2] Chavez’s expansionary, revolutionary foreign
policy and an effort to exert “Bolivarian” influence globally is a growing
threat to all freedom-loving peoples around the world. President Chávez has hailed
the Russia of Medvedev and Putin as a “strategic partner” and makes common
cause with Iran in efforts to drive up oil prices for US and European consumers. He
supports Iran’s bid for nuclear weapons. Chávez provides assistance
and sanctuary to the FARC and has potentially opened the door for Middle Eastern
terrorism. Drug shipments from Venezuela to the US and Europe continue to rise
following Chávez’s cessation of cooperation with the US. Chávez
diverts international attention from the real leaders of sustainable change in Latin
America such as Presidents Lula da Silva of Brazil, Michelle Bachelet of Chile, Alvaro
Uribe of Colombia, and Felipe Calderon of
Mexico.
Myth: Democracy has failed to
meet the needs of the peoples of Latin America
Fact: Most polling data indicates
that Latin Americans still believe firmly in the democratic process as the sole source of
political legitimacy. The Hemispheric right to democratic governance is enshrined
in the 2001 Democratic Charter of the Organization of American states, agreed to by all
nations except Cuba which is not a member of the inter-American body. The key
challenge in government is aligning democratic governance with policies for more
equitable and sustainable economic growth. Transparency, rule of law, and
accountability remain fundamental priorities for genuine democracies. The radical
populist governments of Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua promise to redistribute wealth
at the expense of market economies, private property, and individual freedoms that remain
at the core of modern political and economic development.
Myth: In moves such as
reestablishing the Navy’s Fourth Fleet, the US demonstrates its desire to exert
military and naval influence over Latin America
Fact: Despite the distortions of
Cuban and Venezuelan propaganda, the US goal in the Western Hemisphere is to develop
stronger ties with military, law enforcement and civilian authorities in order to respond
to a broad range of threats and challenges. From natural disasters like hurricanes
to transnational threats posed by narcotics trafficking, criminal gangs, terrorists and
those who trafficking in persons, the security of the Hemisphere and the global order is
under relentless siege. The challenge for the Western Hemisphere is to build
a cooperative system with improved capacity to respond to the serious transnational
challenges.
Myth: US interventionism remains
a major obstacle to democratic improvements in Latin America
Fact: The last US military
intervention in Latin America took place in 1989 in Panama when the US dispatched
military forces to curb Manuel Noriega’s reign of political terror. The US military
has participated in efforts to bring democracy and stable governance to Haiti. The
new interventionism of President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, whether in supporting
the FARC in Colombia or providing significant assistance to left causes in Argentina, El
Salvador, Nicaragua, and Peru is the new gold standard for political involvement and
external manipulation in the Americas.
Myth: The US embargo has
crippled Cuba’s economy and harmed the Cuban people
Fact: Once among the most
prosperous in Latin America, the Cuban people have suffered for fifty years in a state of
political oppression, economic mismanagement, and frequent foreign misadventures of the
Castro regime. For decades, Fidel Castro blamed the US embargo for Cuba’s
woes but failed whenever an opportunity presented itself as in the late 1970s or the
early 1990s to take the reciprocal steps needed to open a dialogue with the US.
Once the loyal ally of the Soviet Union, Cuba today is heavily dependent on several
billion petro-dollars annually from Venezuela and European sex tourists. Cubans
continue to flee their country by the thousands and an entire generation of young Cubans
feels crushed by the rigidity and inflexibility of the Cuban police state.
Recent reforms under Raul Castro allow modest, market-like incentives and
permit a few Cubans access to consumer goods. The regime, however, remains adamant that
the Communist political system and command economy are open neither to debate nor public
dialogue.
Myth: Because of the failure of
immigration reform, US-Mexico relations are at an all time low.
Fact: The US and Mexico enjoy
strong diplomatic and economic relations. As noted recently by the Office of the
U.S. Trade Representative, “From 1993 to 2007, trade among the NAFTA nations more
than tripled, from $297 billion to $930 billion. Business investment in the United States
has risen by 117 percent since 1993, compared to a 45 percent increase between 1979 and
1993.”[3] The recent
request by Mexico for US assistance in the fight against deadly Mexican drug cartels is a
change in the security paradigm. It is recognition of a shared responsibility to
tackle the drug challenge. The US has promised to commit more than $1 billion to a
three year program of counter-narcotics assistance and training for Mexico. Fixing
the immigration equation and establishing greater circularity in the legal labor
movements between the two nations is a challenge for the next US administration and
Congress.
[1] Kim R. Holmes, Edwin J. Feulner, and Mary Anastasia O’Grady, 2008 Index of Economic Freedom (Washington, D.C.: The Heritage Foundation and Dow Jones & Company, Inc., 2008), pp. 311–312, at http://www.heritage.org/research/features/index/countries.cfm
[2]James M. Roberts, “If the Real Simón Bolívar Met Hugo Chávez, He’d See Red,” Heritage Foundation Backgrounder No. 2062, August 20, 2007, at http://www.heritage.org/Research/LatinAmerica/bg2062.cfm
[3] 'NAFTA - Myth vs. Facts', Office of the United States Trade Representative, 19 March 2008, at http://www.ustr.gov/assets/Trade_Agreements/Regional/NAFTA/Fact_Sheets/asset_upload_file202_14592.pdf
