Bush and Latin America Far too late, way too little

[Say_What]

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All of a sudden, after more than six years in the White House, as he sidles toward an ignominious exit, President George W. Bush has gotten real interested in Latin America. So interested has the President become, in fact, that he is spending a week visiting five of the countries in the region -- Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia, Guatemala, and Mexico.

One might think that Bush’s motivation for belatedly touring through a few corners of what he calls “the neighborhood” is to get out of Washington. One could hardly blame him.

Back in the nation’s capital, the rotten fruits of this administration’s ineptitude and miserliness toward the vulnerable have lately been in full view in the form of the Walter Reed Medical Center scandal, which involves the disgraceful treatment of wounded American war veterans. Its political ruthlessness was brought into stark relief during last week’s Senate hearings into the firing of U.S. Attorneys for being impartial prosecutors rather than pliant tools of the Republican electoral and ideological agenda. And, it’s trampling of the Constitution and brazen infringement on the rights of Americans was revealed in a report by the U.S. Justice Department’s own Inspector General, who found that the FBI had repeatedly misused the Patriot Act to obtain information illegally. Critics of the Patriot Act had warned from the outset that this is exactly what would happen if the government was given such broad surveillance power, a charge the administration and its supporters dismissed.

Yet, Bush’s motivation is not to really get away from the heat. And, in any case, Latin America, where he is abhorred by more people than in any region except the Middle East, would be a funny place for Bush to go to escape. The President’s late discovery of Latin America has another objective, namely to counter the growing influence of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. Plenty of oil money and even more audacity have made Chávez the new thorn in the side of the United States in the region.

Bush’s charm offensive toward Latin America is yet another misguided foreign policy adventure by this administration, a failed one from the start, although, thankfully, one that will be much shorter in duration and less costly than Iraq.

The main problem with Bush’s policy toward Latin America is not that he has “neglected Latin America,” as some pundits state. Neglect there has been, to be sure. That would be damaging under normal circumstances. But, given the nature of this administration’s foreign policy, being neglected is a small price to pay compared to being liberated or democratized.

No, the central problem is that the United States under the Bush administration has acted in myriad ways that have vexed and offended Latin Americans. There is no way for Bush to turn around his image among the people in the region. Not in one or several trips to the region; instead, it will take many years of wise and generous policies after Bush is gone to repair the damage he has caused to U.S.-Latin American relations.

http://www.progresoweekly.com/index.php?progreso=Max_Castro&otherweek=1173934800