Interesting BBC Article- How the US Lost Latin America

[Panama Jack]

It's election year throughout most of the region, and the BBC has an interesting thing out:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4861320.stm
Here is a snippet:
It is one of the most important and yet largely untold stories of our world in 2006. George W Bush has lost Latin America.
While the Bush administration has been fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, relations between the United States and the countries of Latin America have become a festering sore - the worst for years.
Virtually anyone paying attention to events in Venezuela and Nicaragua in the north to Peru and Bolivia further south, plus in different ways Mexico, Argentina and Brazil, comes to the same conclusion: there is a wave of profound anti-American feeling stretching from the Texas border to the Antarctic.
And almost everyone believes it will get worse. . . .

[alemaobaiano]

PJ

An interesting article, Latin America has been pretty much left alone by the USA for a while now. However I did notice that the money laundering accusations about the tri-border region are coming up again. Maybe that's a sign of renewed US interest in the region?

ab

[broadreach]

Even without reading the article, I'd agree. US South American policy has been clueless for several years. And it may even turn out to be a good thing, letting clowns and amateurs in Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina and Bolivia get on with their self-destruction.

[B Sousa]

" letting clowns and amateurs in Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina and Bolivia get on with their self-destruction."
How true. I see Bolivia is now following suit with nationalization. That should fill some of the politicians pockets and be a good cause for revolution....Give it time.

[alemaobaiano]

And it may even turn out to be a good thing, letting clowns and amateurs in Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina and Bolivia get on with their self-destruction.

Clowns and amateurs compared to who? Bush? Blair? Berlusconi?

Lula is crippled by corruption scandals, and even if he does get re-elected he won't finish his term. Will that significantly weaken Brazil? No, because his policies are not vastly different from those of FHC or Alckmin. Brazil is now self sufficient in petroleum products and owes nothing to the IMF.

Chavez is neither a clown nor an amateur, he is a shrewd political operator and is popular because of his anti-US attitude. He also has OIL.

Argentina, under Kirschner, overcame a huge debt problem and now has sustainable economic growth.

Finally we have Morales, who probably does fit in with your description and his latest trick will probably backfire on Bolivia.

What caused this situation is the subject of this topic, and it is largely down to US indifference to Latin America and one-sided trade agreements. Ties from this region to the US are getting looser all the time, as these countries explore new markets and enter into new trade agreements outside of the Americas. The US did lose Latin America, and Latin America is starting to like being lost.

ab

[B Sousa]

"The US did lose Latin America, and Latin America is starting to like being lost."

Excuse me, while your getting lost would you mind taking back a few million of your losers.....

[alemaobaiano]

Excuse me, while your getting lost would you mind taking back a few million of your losers.....

No offense, but I thought this thread was about US foreign policy in Latin America? If you want a discussion about the illegal immigration problem, start a new thread.

ab

[B Sousa]

You have a point on another thread but thats been beat to death. I just mentioned that as if all in Latin America like getting lost why are we under siege by so many coming over the border.........

[alemaobaiano]

That other thread does have some "interesting" points of view.

Overall I agree with you, but I think that we have two separate issues at the moment. One (illegal immigration) is at the individual level, the other (US foreign policy) is at a nation-to-nation level. Depending on what the US government decides later this year they may become linked and go on to cause problems for the future.

The BBC article seems to be a fair reflection of the current situation and it will be intersting to see if and how the US goverment decides to react.

ab

[crack up]

I doubt if the U.S. is going to react due to a BBC report.

Here, the U.S. is building a huge embassy. I have no idea why.
It is providing a huge influx to the local economy though.