Heritage Foundation Leadership for America

What Happened in 2002

This past year, the Administration and Congress made some progress in key areas toward defining a more pro-active U.S.-Latin America policy. The President won TPA in August; a bipartisan legislative effort backed his supplemental request to allow U.S.-provided resources to be used to pursue terrorists in Colombia (P.L. 107-206); and the Administration introduced the Millennium Challenge Account as a better way to distribute foreign aid to developing countries that demonstrate the rule of law and practice democratic rule.

Washington recently began to revive public diplomacy initiatives and support for civil society programs in Venezuela, where a belligerent President Chávez faces a fragmented opposition. But in Brazil, funding for Voice of America (VOA) programming that was dropped in 2001 has not been restored. Funding for the President's Andean Regional Initiative has languished in the fiscal year (FY) 2003 Foreign Operations Appropriations Act (S. 2779), which was not passed before the 107th Congress adjourned, potentially delaying counternarcotics assistance to Colombia and other countries in the region. Though the Administration's Initiative for a New Cuba provides general guidelines for encouraging reforms in Cuba, it includes no specific blueprint for such engagement, inviting sympathetic U.S. Congressmen to promote legislation that would bail out Castro's failed economy with U.S. taxpayer-backed loans. And while the Millennium Challenge Account for foreign assistance provides a strong incentive for reform, it fails to address cases like Haiti, where a despotic leader restored to power with U.S. help resists forming a functioning government. Finally, the counternarcotics and lingering Cold War approaches to regional security are not addressing new threats of international crime and terrorism effectively.

What to Do in 2003

While the initiatives the Administration pursued in 2002 will enable the United States to conclude free trade agreements with Chile and Central America, help Colombia more effectively pursue narcoterrorists, and reward countries that take measurable steps toward political and economic reform, the United States still lacks a comprehensive, long-range strategy. Political, economic, and security troubles that affect the stability of neighboring states could easily turn into a deluge of asylum-seekers crossing the U.S. border, as well as depressed markets and complicated security challenges. America needs a long-term approach that encourages sound political and economic reform and lays a foundation for prosperity.

Washington must go beyond merely supporting elections toward promoting the rule of law, the establishment of checks and balances in government, and increasing accountability. Specifically, in 2003, it should:

• Promote ongoing democratic reforms through appropriate public diplomacy tools that inform civic leaders and the people and support the efforts of responsible non-governmental organizations to improve democratic governance. Aid should be used sparingly to support the development of durable institutions, not projects that can be wiped out by a change in leadership. The United States should not give foreign aid or loans to despots or autocrats to try to win their cooperation.
• Drop U.S. barriers to foreign steel and agricultural imports to accelerate negotiations on bilateral trade agreements and the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). The Administration and Congress should build on the leverage afforded by TPA to complete trade pacts with Chile and Central America. But to make progress on free trade with the rest of Latin America, they must cooperate to lower U.S. tariffs and agricultural subsidies as an incentive for other countries to negotiate trade agreements with the United States and to conclude the FTAA.
• Develop routine collaborative partnerships to combat international crime and terrorism. Specifically, the United States should move beyond counternarcotics aid and Cold War-era military relations to enhance its collaborative efforts with Latin American law enforcement agencies and military forces. It should promote the development of subregional cooperative protocols to counter emerging threats of international crime and terrorism. It also should exercise its leadership in the OAS to update the 1947 Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (Rio Treaty) to address new threats.

Stephen Johnson is Policy Analyst for Latin America in the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies at The Heritage Foundation.

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