09 September 2008
Obama, McCain Advisers Discuss Nominees' Views on Latin America
Policy advisers outline candidates' major differences on free trade
Washington — John McCain and Barack Obama agree that nations in Latin America and the Caribbean need to provide better economic opportunity for their people but fundamentally disagree on specifics like the pending U.S. free-trade pact with Colombia, advisers to the U.S. presidential candidates tell America.gov.
Former State Department official Otto Reich, who advises Republican John McCain on the Americas, said a shortage of equitable economic opportunity is the underlying cause for many problems in Latin America and the Caribbean, such as illegal immigration, narcotics trafficking and organized crime.
Reich, who formerly served as assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere under President Bush, said a "lot of these problems don't lend themselves to an easy answer."
He said the region is challenged by including countries "on the verge of being failed states," led by "demagogues" who take advantage of those conditions.
Latin America "just hasn't been able to find the right formula for equitable economic development – by that I mean where people have equal opportunities but obviously not equal results" to escape from poverty, Reich said.
A potential solution for the Americas, he said, is expanding access to the U.S. market for equitable free and fair trade.
Reich emphasized the solutions to the problems of Latin America lie within Latin America, not in the United States, "except to the extent that we open our markets" to Latin American products. He cited Mexico and Chile as examples of countries that have benefited enormously from free-trade pacts with the United States, pacts that also have benefited the United States.
Views on U.S.-Latin American free trade are "probably the most dramatic" policy difference between McCain and his Democratic challenger, Obama, a contrast on which "very few people have focused," according to Reich.
He said it "should be a warning signal to Latin Americans" that the Democrat-controlled Congress – "which obviously would work hand-in-hand with a Democratic president" – has blocked free-trade agreements with Colombia and Panama. (See "Obama, McCain Offer Stark Contrasts on Latin America Policy.")
Despite pressures from the Bush administration, the pact still awaits congressional approval. (See "Rice Urges Congress to Pass U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement.")
Reich said the Obama team falsely accuses the Bush administration of not listening to its neighbors in the Americas, and of pretending that Obama will revamp completely U.S. policy toward the region by enacting something akin to the Alliance for Progress, which aimed in the 1960s to strengthen economic cooperation in the Americas.
OBAMA WANTS TO EXPAND U.S. HEMISPHERIC ENGAGEMENT BEYOND TRADE
Dan Restrepo, Obama's senior policy adviser on the Western Hemisphere, said the Democrat has made it clear "there's a real need to fill the void" created by the current Bush administration's policies in the Americas.
Obama's Latin American policy calls for working in "partnership with countries throughout the Americas so that democracy, opportunity, and security" can flow from the bottom up through society, according to Restrepo. Obama's proposals emphasize "combating the challenges that people of the Americas are facing so that what's good for [Latin America] is good for the United States," Restrepo said.
On the candidates' knowledge about Latin America, Restrepo said the McCain camp is using the "wrong metric" in calculating that McCain's dozens of trips to Latin America translate into regional expertise. The McCain campaign also alleges Obama's lack of travel in the region means he is a novice on Latin American matters.
"What matters isn't going for photo-ops" in Latin America; "[w]hat matters is having a vision to move the relationship forward," said Restrepo, who is a senior fellow at the Washington-based Center for American Progress.
Regarding free trade, Restrepo said, Obama "understands that sensible trade with our partners throughout" Latin America "is an important part of our relationship. It cannot be the sole part of our relationship as it has under President Bush and that John McCain promises to continue."
On the U.S.-Colombia free-trade pact, Restrepo said Obama believes the agreement cannot move forward until progress is made against violence committed against Colombian labor and civic leaders.
Colombia stands at a "very important moment in consolidating" its enormous gains made in security and in "confronting the authors of violence against" the labor leaders, said Restrepo.
U.S. support for Colombia's security gains would be continued by a President Obama, said Restrepo.
Details of McCain's and Obama's (PDF, 80 KB) positions on the Americas are available on the Web sites of the respective candidates.
