Latin Americanists Urge Obama to Revamp Policies

[subsuelo]

I was pleased to join 12 past presidents and more than 200 members of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA) in signing a http://www.art-us.org/node/382">letter to Barack Obama urging him, as president, to respect and support the movements for progressive change in Latin America. We also called on him to dramatically reform U.S. policies toward the region.

Why were we so concerned? For most of the 20th century, the United States was the preponderant power in Latin America; after the end of the Cold War, it was the sole power. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the United States pushed and prodded Latin America to the adoption of what was called "the Washington Consensus" — namely, free markets and neoliberalism. In most countries, the result was a further concentration of wealth in an already severely unequal region and frequent financial crises — but disappointing economic growth.

At the same time, however, Latin America's democracies were becoming more robust. Gradually, movements representing indigenous peoples and the poor began to help elect leftist leaders who sought to develop alternative economic models: Hugo Chávez in Venezuela in 1998; Evo Morales in Bolivia in 2005; Rafael Correa in Ecuador in 2006; and Fernando Lugo in Paraguay in 2008. A particular goal was to secure the benefits of natural-resource wealth for citizens. Additionally, presidents such as Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Brazil and Michelle Bachelet in Chile didn't reject neoliberalism outright but were much more committed than their predecessors to anti-poverty initiatives, political and social inclusion, and diverse global alliances.

http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/5666">Cynthia McClintock, Foreign Policy In Focus - read more

[Judi Lynn]

1. This is great news, an important letter from serious, qualified people.

Really hope he hears about it, thinks about it.

His image of what has happened in Latin America needs an injection of real information, rather than political gibberish passed around by aggressive Americans who don't have a sense of honor yet.