Wednesday 29 October 2008, San José, Costa
Rica
POLITICS-US:
Latin America
Experts Urge Obama to
Break With Past
By
Haider Rizvi
NEW YORK (IPS) -
Will Washington's policy
towards Latin America be
genuinely different from
past U.S.
administrations if
Barack Obama is elected
as the next president in
November? To some
experts on Latin
America, the answer is
no. Others believe that
the U.S. role would be
far more positive.
"I don't think Obama is
devoting a lot of energy
to focus on Latin
America. That may be due
to the scope of the
current economic
crisis," Forrest Hylton,
the author of two books,
"Evil Hour in Colombia"
and "Revolutionary
Horizons: Past and
Present in Colombia,"
told IPS. "But I am
hopeful, because he is
highly rational and
pragmatic about many
questions."
Hylton, who is also a
scholar at New York
University, said many of
those specialising in
research and writing on
Latin America have been
increasingly concerned
about the current U.S.
role in the region, and
want to see a positive
change in Washington's
policies.
"Take advantage of an
historic opportunity to
improve relations with
Latin America," Hylton
and other Latin America
scholars said in a
letter sent to Obama
Tuesday. "Become a
partner, rather than an
adversary, concerning
changes already underway
[in Latin America]."
The letter sent to Obama
in anticipation of a
Democratic victory next
Tuesday, Nov. 4, was
signed by nearly 400
academicians engaged in
policy research on Latin
America, including Eric
Hershberg, president of
the Latin American
Studies Association, the
world's largest group of
scholars on the region.
"We offer our
congratulations on your
campaign," they said in
the letter. "Just as the
people of the United
States have begun to
debate basic questions
regarding the sort of
society they want,
thanks in part to your
own candidacy, but also
owing to the magnitude
of the current financial
crisis -- so too have
the people of Latin
America."
In their letter, the
academics tried to draw
a parallel between the
candidate's slogan for
"hope and change" in the
United States with the
aspirations of millions
of people in Latin
America who have won
struggles for economic
and social justice in
their countries.
"The current impetus for
change in Latin America
is the rejection of the
model of economic growth
that has been imposed in
most countries since the
early 1990s, a model
that has concentrated
wealth, relied
unsuccessfully on
unrestricted market
forces to solve deep
social problems and
undermine human
welfare," the signers of
the letter said.
That message more or
less resonates with the
position stated by Obama
in his campaign
speeches. He has been
consistently attacked by
his opponents for his
rhetoric on tax
increases for the rich
and lifting up the
so-called middle class.
For his position on the
economy, the liberal
Democrat has been dubbed
a "socialist" and
"Marxist".
On Latin America, Obama
has pledged to
immediately roll back
key sanctions imposed by
President George W. Bush
against Cuba over the
last several years and
called for a "new
alliance of the
Americas" in which
Washington's southern
neighbours would no
longer be treated "as a
junior partner".
He also called for a
"substantial increase"
in U.S. aid to the
region channeled in ways
that would reduce what
he called the
"back-breaking
inequality" between rich
and poor and promote
"bottom-up development"
-- although this pledge
was made before the
current economic crisis
in the United States
escalated dramatically.
"Instead of engaging the
people of the region,
we've acted as if we can
still dictate terms
unilaterally," Obama
said in a major speech
on Latin America in May.
The group of academics
also rejected the
current U.S. policy of
domination in Latin
America, praising the
role of new democratic
governments there and
noting that the
contemporary "movements
for change" in the
region derived their
strength from active
participation of
workers, peasants, women
and indigenous
communities.
"They are neither
puppets, nor blinded by
fanaticism and ideology,
as caricatured by some
mainstream [media]
pundits," they told
Obama in the letter. "To
the contrary, these
movements deserve our
respect, friendship and
respect."
In his speeches, Obama
has promised to reshape
U.S. foreign policy,
including towards Latin
American countries with
whom the Bush
administration has
adopted a hostile
attitude. He has been
repeatedly attacked by
the right-wing media
here for suggesting that
there is nothing wrong
with talking with the
popular Venezuelan
leader Hugo Chavez.
Reflecting on the U.S.
role in Latin America,
Hershberg, the president
of LASA, said most
people in the region see
the United States as "an
aggressor, the guarantor
of an international
economic system that
works against them
rather than for them --
the very anti-thesis of
hope and change."
In the 1970s and 80s,
U.S.-backed military
regimes in the region
committed gross
violations of human
rights, including
extra-judicial killings
of democracy activists
and mass imprisonments
of the leaders of
movements for social
justice.
Despite its rhetoric on
democracy and freedom,
the U.S. government
remains hostile to
countries such as
Venezuela, Bolivia,
Ecuador, Nicaragua and
others where leaders of
social justice movements
have come to power with
the support of the vast
majorities of their
citizens.
Most recently, both
Bolivia and Venezuela
expelled U.S. envoys
from their capitals amid
accusations that they
were plotting with
internal opposition
groups to overthrow the
two popular governments.
The academics said the
U.S. must renew its
active support for human
rights everywhere,
including its allies in
the region, such as
Colombia, Peru and
Mexico, noting that,
"unfortunately, in the
eyes of many Latin
Americans, the United
States has come to stand
for the support of
inequitable regimes."
They also called for new
steps to ensure academic
freedom at home and to
lift the ban on the
exchange of ideas with
scholars in Cuba, amid
hopes that Obama might
be able to enhance
mutual understanding and
cooperation in the
hemisphere.
To Hylton, all this
would not be possible
unless there's a strong
and effective grassroots
movement in the United
States to keep a check
on the Obama
administration.
"A strong progressive
labour movement would
force Obama to implement
our agenda," he said,
"but I do not see that
is on the horizon."
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