Clinton Seeks to Mend Latin America Ties After Obama Hope Faded

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Bloomberg

Clinton Seeks to Mend Latin America Ties After Obama Hope Faded
By Daniel Cancel

March 1 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will seek to repair strained ties with Latin America during a five-nation tour this week after early optimism about a new relationship under President Barack Obama fizzled.

The toughest leg of her journey may come today, when she’ll cross paths with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez at the inauguration of Uruguayan President-elect Jose “Pepe” Mujica. Chavez has been a vocal critic of the U.S.’s handling of the military coup in Honduras, its agreement to boost troops in Colombia and limited progress in improving relations with Cuba.

From Uruguay, Clinton will go to Chile, where she’ll see some of the destruction wrought by the 8.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Feb. 27, killing hundreds. Her trip to the region is designed to surmount doubts from regional leaders including Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva about Obama’s promise last year for a “new direction” in relations.

“She’s on a damage control agenda,” said Juan Gabriel Tokatlian, professor of international relations at Universidad Torcuato Di Tella in Buenos Aires. “If she comes with an agenda she will be listened to, but if she came only for a goodwill tour some leaders will ask her why she even bothered.”

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=asOi2jWmOcFA

---

On edit, adding:

Clinton adds Buenos Aires to Latin American tour
By Lachlan Carmichael (AFP) – 3 hours ago

SAN JUAN — US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton added Buenos Aires to what is now a six-country Latin American tour highlighted by a solidarity, albeit shortened visit to quake-stricken Chile.

With her schedule thrown into flux by the quake, Clinton will spend Monday night in the Argentine capital after a lightning visit to Montevideo, where she will attend Jose Mujica's inauguration as Uruguay's president, aides said.

The chief US diplomat dropped initial plans to spend the night in Santiago, the Chilean capital, but will travel there on Tuesday and spend a few hours at the airport, top Clinton aide Philippe Reines told traveling reporters.

There she will meet Chilean President Michelle Bachelet and president-elect Sebastian Pinera.

"We want to show America's support for the people of Chile while mindful of the realities on the ground," said Reines, the deputy assistant secretary of state, during a refueling stop in Puerto Rico.

More:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hLFGSGwEEZD2lagmN3z3Pef56f7g

[scottsoperson]

1. bloomberg is part of the

corporate media. and the mayor of nyc may decide to run for president.

[Cha]

2. Whatever..they're all a part of the same

admin.

[scottsoperson]

4. nader said there was no difference

between gore and bush.

[Cha]

7. Don't give a shit what nader says.

[scottsoperson]

8. well, obviously nader

was wrong. just as you are.

[Suji to Seoul]

26. Oh. . .ANSWER style Nader-ites.

There is no difference. . .you're right.

Al Gore was the same as Bush. . .even including debates on climate change and tax cuts for the wealthy.

If you tell a lie long enough, you can delude yourself into believing the lie.

[Romulox]

32. Al Gore ran as a crappy free-tradin', deregulatin' centrist "New Democrat".

Revisionism goes both ways, you know. :hi:

[scottsoperson]

44. yap, al gore should have run

as a marxist. that would have went over well. or he could have followed the lead of kucinich.

[jonnyblitz]

51. plus Lieberman as his running mate didn't help matters. nt

[Flaneur]

55. What does Nader have to do with Hilary in South America?

[Jim Sagle]

3. Nice way to restart the primary wars.

:thumbsdown:

[cliffordu]

9. There seems to be a couple people here tonight that want to

re-fight the primary.

[Jim Sagle]

10. And I'm NOT an Obama defender, usually.

Harsh criticism of his policy choices is legitimate and (conceivably) helpful; pointed personal slights involving another primary candidate have nothing but downside.

[EFerrari]

12. Did you misplace your post? Where you responding to the OP?

[Jim Sagle]

17. Yes.

[EFerrari]

31. I see how DU might read the headline that way

but it's probably not how anyone thinking about our LatAm policy would take it.

[PoliticalOne65]

52. Run Hillary Run

[Jim Sagle]

56. Edwards RRRRRAWWWWWXXXXXXX!!!!

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

[AlphaCentauri]

5. Must be to help to elect RW zealot like Santos in Colombia n/t

[scottsoperson]

6. brazil has a socialist president

and a thriving economy.

[EFerrari]

11. Lula is not a socialist by any stretch of the imagination. n/t

[scottsoperson]

14. is lula a socialist?

Cuba's ex-leader Fidel Castro is in good shape, Brazil's president has said following what is reported to have been an "emotional meeting".

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Mr Castro, 83, looked "exceptionally well", state-run media reports.

Photographs of the pair show the two friends talking and smiling as they sit around a table.

[scottsoperson]

15. lula, a socialist?

Brazil's President Lula: 'White, Blue-Eyed Bankers Have Brought ...
Mar 26, 2009 ... Brazil's President Lula: 'White, Blue-Eyed Bankers Have Brought World Economy To Its Knees' - The Huffington Post.
www.huffingtonpost.com/.../brazils-president-lula-wh_n_179798.html

[scottsoperson]

18. ok, maybe he's not a socialist

Hardliners from his Workers Party (PT) accused him of betraying and caving in to bankers and capitalist carpetbaggers. Business executives were also wary: could the "new" Lula be trusted? Investors sat on their hands.

but his workers party doesn't appear to like capitalists.

[EFerrari]

16. And? I have a lot of friends that I don't agree with at every point.

That was, however, a great pix of Lula and Castro.

[scottsoperson]

19. i suppose castro could be friends

with an evil capitalist.

[scottsoperson]

20. i don't think american capitalists

would see a lula as a fellow capitalist. i suppose it depends on your definition of socialism. either way, the brazilian economy is thriving compared to the rest of the developing world.

[scottsoperson]

21. and you are stretching the truth

"by any stretch of the imagination."

[scottsoperson]

22. one could easily stretch one's imagination

to see lula as a socialist.

[Jax]

27. NO. EFerrari and Judi Lynn DO NOT stretch the truth EVER

on these forums.

EVER.

Alyce

[EFerrari]

30. Not really. He's not even really a social democrat

although if it were possible to like him more, I'd like him more if he were. lol

[EFerrari]

13. I don't see any point to this trip. Maybe you're right.

:(

[Judi Lynn]

24. Guess we can call it a real triumph if they don't protest everywhere she stops,

as it happened throughout _{George W. Bush's} trip. I loved the signs lining the streets which said "You were not invited!" and "Go away" everywhere, in both Spanish, and in Portuguese, when he visited Brazil.

Priests to purify site after Bush visit
By Juan Carlos Llorca, Associated Press Writer | March 9, 2007

GUATEMALA CITY --Mayan priests will purify a sacred archaeological site to eliminate "bad spirits" after President Bush visits next week, an official with close ties to the group said Thursday.

"That a person like (Bush), with the persecution of our migrant brothers in the United States, with the wars he has provoked, is going to walk in our sacred lands, is an offense for the Mayan people and their culture," Juan Tiney, the director of a Mayan nongovernmental organization with close ties to Mayan religious and political leaders, said Thursday.

Bush's seven-day tour of Latin America includes a stopover beginning late Sunday in Guatemala. On Monday morning he is scheduled to visit the archaeological site Iximche on the high western plateau in a region of the Central American country populated mostly by Mayans.

Tiney said the "spirit guides of the Mayan community" decided it would be necessary to cleanse the sacred site of "bad spirits" after Bush's visit so that their ancestors could rest in peace. He also said the rites -- which entail chanting and burning incense, herbs and candles -- would prepare the site for the third summit of Latin American Indians March 26-30.

Bush's trip has already has sparked protests elsewhere in Latin America, including protests and clashes with police in Brazil hours before his arrival. In Bogota, Colombia, which Bush will visit on Sunday, 200 masked students battled 300 riot police with rocks and small homemade explosives.

More:

http://www.boston.com/news/odd/articles/2007/03/09/priests_to_purify_site_after_bush_visit/

~~~~~~~
IXIMCHE, Guatemala (Reuters) - Mayan priests spiritually "cleansed" a Guatemalan religious site with incense and candles on Thursday after a visit earlier this week by President Bush.

Two priests lit colored candles on the four corners of the ruins to represent natural elements, burning incense and beating a ceremonial drum on top of a pyramid visited by Bush and Guatemalan President Oscar Berger on Monday.The priests said they wanted to purify the site before a visit by Bolivia's indigenous President Evo Morales later this month.

"During President Bush's visit here snipers occupied this entire area," said Mayan youth leader Jorge Morales Toj. "It's a violent way of showing how disrespectful the U.S. empire is toward indigenous people."

The head of security at the U.S. embassy in Guatemala said it was standard practice for two sniper teams to protect President Bush while he was traveling.The official, who asked not to be named, said he did not know if snipers had been positioned at the ruins for the visit.

Bush was dogged by protests throughout last week's five-country tour of Latin America, where he is widely unpopular. His visit sparked violent scuffles with police and protesters in all the countries he visited.

At the Iximche ruins on Monday, Bush watched a reenactment of an ancient Mayan ball game played by young men in costumes using a soccer ball painted gold. Some Mayans said the show-game was an offensive portrayal of their culture as a tourist attraction.

The United States supported military governments in Guatemala during the country's 1960-96 civil war, which had its roots in the overthrow of a left-leaning government by a CIA-supported coup in 1954.

Entire Mayan villages were destroyed during the military's scorched earth counter-insurgency campaign that left nearly a quarter million people dead or missing.

At Thursday's ceremony, two spiritual guides said prayers in Spanish and the Kaqchikel Mayan language, handing corn that had been used as decoration during Bush's visit to kneeling women. Corn is sacred in Mayan culture and is the origin of man in the Mayan holy book the Popul Vuh.

The ceremony was meant to clear out residual "bad energy" at the ruins, the capital of the Kaqchikel Mayan people before the 1524 Spanish conquest, in preparation for the arrival of Morales, who will attend an international convention of native leaders here at the end of the month.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1538129020070315

http://cache.daylife.com.nyud.net:8090/imageserve/09D4bk29uG0c4/610x.jpg

AP Photo 36 months ago
A Mayan priest performs a cleansing ceremony at the temple that was visited by
U.S. President George W. Bush on Monday in the Iximche archaeological site,
fearing President Bush brought bad spirits, in Guatemala, Thursday, March 15,
2007. Bush visited Iximche during a five-nation tour of Latin America, which
included a daylong stopover in Guatemala.

[AlphaCentauri]

34. There might be many reasons

Like to find out why ex-guerrilla members are wining elections in Uruguay.
To see what Santos needs to get elected.
To give the Argentinian right wing a push.
To follow up on all the intelligence operations in latin america.
To push for recognition of the Honduran government.

[EFerrari]

38. La Misma. The usual.

[AlphaCentauri]

50. Latin america always listen to the same song regardless of who is in office n/t

[lib2DaBone]

23. .."after the Obama Hope Faded"...

.. South America is bummed out? How do they think people feel in the U.S.?

[cstanleytech]

25. Ya know im really tired of this ^^

He has only been in office for a little over a year and you and others expect him to undo all the dmg Bush and the republicans did to this nation over a 6+ year period in under a year and when it doesnt happen, ya complain?
Ya know if you or anyone else here thinks ya can do a better job then step up and run for the office, heck I'll even support ya.
So, who wants to step up?
Anyone?

[EFerrari]

29. The coup in Honduras and the military build up in Colombia and Panama

are owned by Obama, not Bush.

[cstanleytech]

33. Ok, this one I gotta hear.

How exactly does he "own them" and furthermore how are they even relevant to my post above.

[EFerrari]

35. They are relevant because those two actions by the Obama admin

is the reason that the great goodwill he got from Latin America when he was a candidate has fizzled.

If you want background on either of them, look in the LatAm forum archives. We've had many threads on these topics.

[cstanleytech]

36. Meh sorry but their totally different nations so goodwill aside to me

their not relevant to his election or his performance in office since he was elected and sworn in barely a year ago.

[EFerrari]

37. The word you want is "they're". It's a contraction of "they are".

And nice job discounting our relationships with our closest neighbors. USA!

[cstanleytech]

39. Awe, thank you for correcting my spelling, here have a cookie as your reward for that epic comeback

[EFerrari]

42. Yes, Hillary Clinton's Latin America tour is all about you.

lol

[NuttyFluffers]

53. assisting regional coups and military build ups are irrelevant to regional politics... check

completely ludicrous interpretation, considering regional international relations are based upon how your country behaves in an international region, but you are welcome to believe anything you want.

you see, his election and performance in office this past year has been a very real problem regionally. he not only continued previous policy, but he has applied more negative attention to it, while at the same time trying to regain popular support. LatAm is very familiar with this routine; it's cost them many lives, let alone treasure. his "barely within a year" actions have exacerbated the situation in international politics in that region, therefore he is going to lose any favorable benefit of the doubt he had before he was in office.

they didn't know how this administration was going to behave -- now they do.

now the leaders of this region, who are very familiar with our past bad behavior there, are expecting more of the same from last year -- and they're not amused.

[Ed76638]

28. Because supporting right-wing military coups is so Ronald Reagan.

[Socal31]

40. I couldn't care less if they feel warm and fuzzy over Obama in SA.

He has already proven what he will do for our neighbors.

[EFerrari]

43. He sure has. Honduras can testify.

[Socal31]

46. Yes, Obama caused the coup!

Or are you one of those people that think because he didn't physically re-instate the ousted that he is just as responsible?

Almost as laughable as Truthers/Birthers/Chem-trailers

[Judi Lynn]

47. Do yourself the favor of keeping up with the INFORMATION.

If you don't bother to do your homework, you're not speaking from an intelligent position, and shouldn't blunder into conversations with people who've followed this coup from its first day.

You have only yourself to blame if you don't grasp what has happened.

[Socal31]

48. Yes, and if I go onto a Birther site, they could say the same thing.

[NuttyFluffers]

54. we are not given subjective license to our own facts, including you. study more.

the information is compiled. you are sorely lacking in awareness of what is going on. you are welcome to correct this deficit...

[EFerrari]

49. No regime change in Honduras is possible without the tacit agreement

of the US government.

[MisterP]

41. they'd better check their windshield wipers before leaving the airport... nt

[scottsoperson]

45. a lot of abject poverty

in honduras.