Progressive Talking Points 11/7/05

A Broken Promise

When President Bush first took office in 2001, he promised to strengthen U.S.-Latin American Relations, however, after the completion of President Bush's four-day trip to Latin American it is evident this promise has not been kept. During his trip to Latin America the President faced mounting tension from Latin American leaders resulting from the President's limited and one-sided trade agenda. Most strikingly, the President's trip to the summit revealed that he has lost significant political capitol both at home and abroad.

• There was no new progress on trade or poverty. The feeling among many Latin Americans is that the US came to the summit with little new to offer except the same policies that have vastly increased social inequality throughout Latin America during the past decade. The summit "broke up Saturday without a clear agreement on when and how to resume stalled talks aimed at achieving a hemisphere wide free trade agreement.
  
  
• The policies of the Bush administration have weakened US influence in Latin America. When President Bush took office, Latin America took a backseat to other diplomatic ventures, supporting the idea "that Washington's influence in the region, while still considerable, is waning." The shift in Latin America towards more progressive leaders has less to do with Hugo Chavez (as the administration would have you believe) and more to do with mistrust of the free market and monetary policies of Washington.
  
• President Bush had trouble holding his own at the talks. Reporters noticed that President Bush seemed out of his element during the trip. When reporters noted to National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley that Bush didn’t talk about his trade initiatives, Hadley remarked that “You didn't hear President Bush much talk about anything.” Perhaps that explains why President Bush left during the contentious negotiations, leaving an assistant secretary of state behind to sweat out the trade talks. They ended hours later in failure.