Clinton
Wants Renewal Of Ties To Latin
America
Colombia Slams Door On Mexican Soccer Clubs
Colombia Sees U.S.
"Will" To Work Out Trade Pact
Bolivia: Deputies Question Terrorism
Suspects
Clinton Wants
Renewal Of Ties To Latin
America
By Matthew Lee
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration
is working to improve deteriorating U.S.
relations with a number of Latin American
nations to counter growing Iranian, Chinese
and Russian influence in the Western
Hemisphere, Secretary of State Hillary
Rodham Clinton said Friday.
Clinton said U.S. officials are looking at
renewing envoys and other strategies aimed
at Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia and Ecuador
to improve ties that languished during the
Bush administration. Clinton said the U.S.
also wants better relations with Cuba but
wants to evidence of reform there.
Speaking to State Department employees
Friday at a town-hall meeting, Clinton said
Republican President George W. Bush's policy
had been counterproductive, allowing leftist
leaders like Venezuela's Hugo Chavez,
Bolivia's Evo Morales and Nicaragua's Daniel
Ortega to promote anti-U.S. sentiment and
rely on aid from China, Iran and Russia.
"We see a number of countries and leaders —
Chavez is one of them but not the only one —
who over the last eight years has become
more and more negative and oppositional to
the United States," Clinton said.
Clinton noted that last month she spoke with
Chavez at the Summit of the Americas about
returning a U.S. ambassador to Venezuela,
the same gathering where President Barack
Obama's handshake with Chavez drew
diplomatic attention. Clinton said she also
wants to work with Morales to send back an
American ambassador to Bolivia.
Chavez expelled the U.S. envoy to Venezuela
in September in solidarity with Morales who
ordered out the top U.S. diplomat in Bolivia
for allegedly helping the opposition incite
violence.
The Bush administration "tried to isolate
them, tried to support opposition to them,
tried to turn them into international
pariahs," Clinton said. "It didn't work. We
are going to see what other approaches might
work."
Clinton said that the growing influence from
China and Iran in Latin America is "quite
disturbing. They are building very strong
economic and political connections with a
lot of these leaders. I don't think that's
in our interest."
Clinton said improving relations with
Nicaragua, which last year elected Ortega,
the former Sandinista leader, president was
important to counter Iran's growing
influence.
"We are looking to figure out how to deal
with Ortega," Clinton said. She noted that
"the Iranians are building a huge embassy in
Managua. You can only imagine what it's
for."
She acknowledged there is growing pressure
from other Western Hemisphere nations to
lift the decades-long U.S. freeze on
relations with Cuba.
But Clinton said the U.S. still wants signs
from President Raul Castro and his ailing
brother, Fidel, that they will allow reforms
in response to Obama's lifting of travel and
financial restrictions on Americans with
Cuban relatives.
"We would like to see some reciprocity from
the Castros on political prisoners, human
rights and other matters," Clinton said.
Fidel Castro said Friday he found "some new
elements" in the Obama administration's
easing of restrictions, but he bristled at
the White House's steps toward improving
relations with Cuba.
Castro wrote in a May Day message that the
U.S. would like to see Cubans return "to the
fold of slaves, who, after tasting liberty,
again accept the whip and the yoke."
Clinton stressed that the administration has
no illusions about rapid progress with
leaders who have fundamentally different
ideas on governance.
But it is important to try, she said.
"We think it is worth trying to just explore
this and see what comes of it," she said. |
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