Latin America finally came to the fore of the campaign last
week, when John McCain and Barack Obama both spoke in Miami, one
epicenter of the U.S. Hispanic community.
As expected, Cuba was the main topic of their speeches, and both
candidates went through the campaign ritual of vowing to fight for
liberty in the island. If only their proposals weren’t more of the
same.
McCain declared that he “will not passively await the day when
Cuban people enjoy the blessings of freedom and democracy,” but his
proposal is just that: waiting until the Castro regime suddenly
embraces free elections and political dissent. McCain promised to
maintain present policies towards Cuba, as if almost 50 years of
American embargo had brought any results.
Obama’s proposal on Cuba is a little more daring, but still
fails to break the status quo. The Democratic candidate would allow
unlimited travel and remittances from Cuban Americans to the
island, but he still promises to keep the embargo and travel ban in
effect for most Americans.
Though receiving more cash and visits from their wealthy
relatives in the U.S. will help improve the living conditions of
many Cubans, the Castro regime will keep branding the “blockade” —
as they call it — as an act of aggression by Washington.
The embargo and travel ban fit just perfectly into the Castros’
strategy to demonize the U.S. by keeping American goods and people
away from Cuba’s shores. Unfortunately, little will change under a
McCain or Obama administration.
How ironic that Senator McCain embraces the embargo towards
Cuba, while not long ago he was one of the main proponents of
normalizing trade relations with Vietnam, a similarly unsavory
Communist regime that locked him up and tortured him for years.
McCAIN’S BROADER VISION for Latin America, however, is far better
than Obama’s. The Republican candidate once again insisted on the
importance of free trade as the bedrock of U.S. relations
throughout the region.
He underscored the importance of free trade agreements in
building prosperity and strengthening democracy, and renewed his
call for approving the U.S.-Colombia deal on an expedited
basis.
For his part, though he repeatedly talked of not treating the
region as a “junior partner,” Obama offered a condescending set of
policies that reinforce the Washingtonian arrogance he claims to
want to replace. Calling for a “new alliance of the Americas”
(another one?), Obama offered to save Latin America from
itself.
According to the Democratic candidate, populism and
authoritarianism in many countries are the results of U.S. failure
to engage the region. If only Washington could rescue its southern
neighbors from their own failures.
Obama — who once promised to “perfect” the United States, seems
to regard himself equally capable of “targeting every source of
fear in the Americas” and “advanc[ing] freedom from want” in the
region. For this purpose, he promises to “substantially increase”
foreign aid to Latin America, despite the mediocre record of
official assistance in lifting people out of poverty around the
world.
Offering aid to governments in the region instead of trade
agreements that benefit their citizens directly underscores the
perception of Latin Americans that the U.S. sees them as “poor
relatives” instead of equals.
More troubling is Obama’s recipe against drug trafficking in
Central America. He promises to escalate U.S. involvement in the
region, and conditions more resources to governments on “clear
benchmarks for drug seizures, corruption prosecutions, crime
reduction, and kingpins busted.” These “benchmarks” on sovereign
governments are an affront to Obama’s call for “mutual respect”
between the U.S. and Latin America.
It’s been widely said that Latin America has been badly
neglected under the Bush administration. The solution is said to be
more U.S. involvement in the region. But that is simply not the
case.
Prosperity and democracy ultimately depend on Latin Americans
themselves, and the policies they implement. Washington can only
help by strengthening commercial ties between both sides. McCain
seems to understand this. Obama still doesn’t.
