The History in Latin America: April 16-22, 2009

With the Summit of the Americas over, I thought it would be useful to gather here (and analyze ever-so-briefly) what is being said about the direction of US relations with Latin America three days after the Summit in Trinidad and Tobago. An interesting common theme emerges, I think.

At the Huffington Post, writer Stephen Schlesinger says “consideration should be given to resurrecting the broad-based social programs like those that have worked in the past with the Latin community - e.g., FDR's Good Neighbor policy and JFK's Alliance for Progress.” Tim Padgett of Time writes the following: it [Open Veins of Latin America] was an appropriate gift for Obama — not because he's clueless about that manera de pensar, but because he proved at the Trinidad summit to be the first U.S. President to get it. “‘We have at times been disengaged, and at times we sought to dictate our terms,’ to Latin America, Obama told the gathering. ‘But I pledge to you that we seek an equal partnership. There is no senior partner and junior partner in our relations.’” Peter Hakim of the Inter-American Dialogue writes that Obama provided few new ideas for U.S. Latin American relations at the Summit, separating himself from the past only with his mentions of Cuba. In the New York Times the paper called the visit of U.S. officials to Latin America part of a “contrition tour” that included Sec. of State Clinton accepting U.S. responsibility for past mistakes. Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney writes at The National Review Online that “President Obama shrank from defending liberty here in the Americas” by not denouncing the rhetoric of Latin American leaders like Hugo Chávez and Daniel Ortega who claim the U.S. has been guilty of an aggressive, expansionist past. Bolivia’s president Evo Morales likely agrees with Ortega. “We cannot forget our history: it’s sacred,” Morales maintained, adding “to forget the past would be a great mistake.” And both the more conservative Ray Welser of the Heritage Foundation (“Often fascinated with things Rooseveltian, President Obama appeared to be rekindling FDR's Good Neighbor Policy, says Welser) and the more liberal John Feffer of Foreign Policy in Focus (“It’s time for the Obama administration to go one step further than FDR and pursue a Great Neighbor Policy that can change U.S.-Latin American relations for good,” writes Feffer) ask if the Summit could be the beginning of a 1930s doctrinal throwback.

A common theme? The past, perhaps? Indeed, it seems that, for better or worse, a proclivity for the historical will continue to shape perspectives about any new U.S. policy toward Latin America. President Obama can try to not get “trapped by history” as he “looks forward” but it seems it will be quite difficult for him to ignore the past all together. It’s really what’s on the mind of everyone right now.