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The Candidates and Latin America

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The Candidates and Latin America JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2008 P=GEJCJKPA The Candidates and Latin America ÞÊ ÀÃÌÞÊ/ ÀÌÊ ITH AN INCREASING NUMBER OF influence continues to grow because of our presidential primaries occurring increasing reliance on foreign sources of oil.” W around the country in the very early It’s clear that the former New York City mayor part of 2008, those of us concerned with Latin saw no contradiction in decrying the influence America are forced into an earlier-than-ever ex- of foreign oil while his firm represented, well, amination of the candidates’ stances on foreign foreign oil. policy. Though we might have expected that And Giuliani has much company among Latin America would be overshadowed entirely the Republican candidates. John McCain’s by the continuing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, campaign Web site featured an online petition or emerge only in the context of immigration, calling for support in his quest to “stop the hemispheric relations have come up surprisingly dictators of Latin America,” and which called often in early campaigning. So what do the for the ouster of Chávez “in candidates talk about when they discuss Latin 7 >ÌÊ`ÊÌ iÊ the name of democracy and America? In a word, Chávez. V>``>ÌiÃÊÊ freedom throughout our Perhaps the most high-profile example came hemisphere.” (To whom after a Democratic debate in South Carolina Ì>Ê>LÕÌÊ this petition would be ad- in July, during which Illinois senator Barack Ü iÊÌ iÞÊ dressed was unclear; it Obama said that, if elected, he would meet was since taken down.) In with the leaders of “rogue states” like Iran, `ÃVÕÃÃÊ>ÌÊ a March news conference Syria, Cuba, and Venezuela. Democratic front- iÀV>¶ÊÊÊ in Miami’s Little Havana, runner Hillary Clinton went on the immedi- >ÊÜÀ`]Ê McCain stressed that “ev- ate offensive against Obama, saying she would eryone should understand not meet personally with Castro or Chávez in ?Ûiâ° the connections” between her first year because, as she said rather cryp- Evo Morales, Castro and tically, she didn’t want “to be used for propa- Chávez. “They inspire each other. They assist ganda purposes.” An intense, if brief, media each other. They get ideas from each other,” frenzy followed, in which the “rogue” nature he said. “It’s very disturbing.” of the Cuban and Venezuelan states was a re- Equally disturbed is Mitt Romney, who in current theme. (Nevermind that earlier in the July, on Venezuela’s Independence Day, issued year, after she made remarks about the use of a statement decrying the “troubling times record oil-company profits to further alterna- in Venezuela,” where, according to Romney, tive energy research, one commentator called “Chavez continues his methodical assault on Clinton “Hugo Chavez in a pantsuit.”) . his people’s freedom.” Earlier in the year, The Democrats are not alone in obsessing Romney had announced the formation of a over Chávez’s Venezuela. When it was re- Latin America Policy Advisory Group, which vealed in March that Rudy Giuliani’s Texas law includes the likes of Ambassador Roger Noriega, firm was to be paid up to a quarter million dollars a former aide to Jesse Helms who is accused of for lobbying in Houston on behalf of Citgo—which involvement in the ouster of Aristide and who is, of course, the U.S. subsidiary of PDVSA, publicly applauded the coup against Chávez; the Venezuelan state-owned oil company— former representative Cass Ballanger and the Christy Thornton the Giuliani camp issued a statement that American Enterprise Institute’s Mark Falcoff, is NACLA’s Executive read, in part, “Giuliani believes Hugo Chavez both active Contra supporters and members Director and Publisher. is not a friend of the United States, and his continued on page 44 >> NACLA REPORT ON THE AMERICAS JKPAO 2007). I am deeply indebted to Mario Arango Jaramillo’s pioneering work: in the Factory: Myths, Morals, Men, and Women in Medellín’s Industrial Ex- El proceso de capitalismo en Colombia (J.M. Arango, 1986); El impacto del periment, 1905–60 (Duke, 2000); Mark Bowden, Killing Pablo (Penguin, 2001); narcotráfico en Antioquia (J.M. Arango, 1988); Los funerales de Antioquia la Ramiro Ceballos Melguizo, “The Evolution of Armed Conflict in Medellín: An Grande (J.M. Arango, 1989). Indispensable sources in English are Ann Twi- Analysis of the Major Actors,” Latin American Perspectives 28, no. 1 (January nam, Miners, Merchants, and Farmers in Colonial Colombia (University of 2001): 110–31. Texas Press, 1982); Alonso Salazar, Born to Die in Medellín (Latin American 2. Mike Davis, Buda’s Wagon: A Brief History of the Car Bomb (Verso, 2007), Books, 1992); Peter Wade, Blackness and Race Mixture: The Dynamics of Ra- p. 109. cial Identity in Colombia (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995); Mary Roldán, 3. Mauricio Romero, Paramilitares y autodefensas, 1982–2003 (IEPRI, 2003), “Cocaine and the ‘Miracle of Modernity’ in Medellín,” in Paul Gootenberg, ed., pp. 194–95. Cocaine: Global Histories (Routledge, 1999); Ann Farnsworth-Alvear, Dulcinea 4. David Harvey, Spaces of Global Capitalism (Verso, 2006), pp. 7–68. The Samuel Chavkin Prize NOW ACCEPTING NOMINATIONS for Integrity in Latin FOR THE 2008 AWARD. FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO SUBMIT American Journalism A NOMINATION, VISIT WWW.NACLA.ORG. << continued from page 3 of Reagan’s Commission on Central America, led by review of Edwards’s list of foreign policy advisers reveals Henry Kissinger; and heavyweight lobbyists Al Carde- that nine of the 11 listed are in his “Military Advisory nas, the former Chairman of Florida’s Republican Party, Group.”) Similarly, Obama devoted around 20 vague, and Jorge L. Arrizurieta, a Bush “Pioneer” and top pro- bromidic words specifically to Latin America, while Clin- ponent of the Free Trade Area of the Americas. All in all, ton, Giuliani and McCain each managed to prepare an Romney’s Latin America advisers number a stunning entire paragraph on hemispheric re- 10 out of the 25 national security and foreign policy ,iÞ½ÃÊ lations. Clinton’s contribution insists “wonks” affiliated with his campaign, as listed by The «iÌ À>ÊvÊ that “we have witnessed the rollback Washington Post. How does that compare with the other of democratic development and eco- campaigns? Both Giuliani and McCain have one Latin >ÌÊiÀV>Ê nomic openness in parts of Latin America–affiliated adviser. The Democrats? Not a single >`ÛÃiÀÃÊÃÊÊ America,” while Giuliani laments the one between them. >ÊL>Ì>ÌÊÊ “inevitable path to greater statism” But Romney’s plethora of Latin America advisers— being forged in Bolivia and Venezuela, whom he brought together in a blatant attempt to secure >ÌÌi«ÌÊÌÊ and McCain airs the conservatives’ votes in the Republican battleground of Florida—does ÃiVÕÀiÊÛÌiÃÊÊ dirty laundry list of policy prescrip- not mean that his campaign is more focused on Latin tions: “marginalizing” the “nefarious” America than the other leading contenders for the White Ì iÊ,i«ÕLV>Ê influence of Chávez, preparing for a House. Foreign Affairs recently published essays by the L>ÌÌi}ÀÕ`ÊÊ “transition to democracy” in Cuba, top six candidates, meant to provide a comprehensive defeating drug cartels in Mexico, and vÊÀ`>° look into the foreign policy objectives of each. Romney’s implementing the FTAA. essay was the shortest of the bunch, coming in at 5,046 So what should we take away from all of this pander- words, a whopping 23 of which were concerned with ing to Miami and posturing on Chávez? In short, more of Latin America. Ten advisers, 23 words. the same failed policies we’ve seen since the end of the His wasn’t the least concerned with the region, how- Cold War. It’s clear that those of us counting the days until ever; John Edwards devoted a mere 12 of his 5,250 words the end of the Bush administration should not expect sig- on “Reengaging with the World” to Latin America, while nificant change in Latin America policy to come from the devoting almost 800 to “strengthening the military.” (A White House—no matter who wears the pantsuit. .
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