Location:
The Heritage Foundation's Van Andel Center
U.S. efforts to promote democracy, free trade, and security in
the Americas face obstacles in the form of heavily centralized
bureaucracies and strong presidencies that resisted deeper
democratic practice and public participation. Meanwhile
narco-terrorists in Colombia, while under renewed pressure from a
government determined to regain control of the Colombian
countryside and end their scourge, remain a threatening force. U.S.
attention and leadership, lacking in the 1990's, will be required
to overcome these barriers to make further progress in a region
with rich potential. Since 2001, the Bush Administration has
revitalized U.S. efforts to face these challenges by strengthening
hemispheric security, supporting democratization and encouraging
free trade. Signaling a sharpened and more purposeful focus on U.S.
relations within the hemisphere, President Bush termed the new
century the "Century of the Americas." What has changed, what
remains the same? As the President Bush's point-man on the western
hemisphere, Otto J. Reich outlines U.S. efforts to address some of
our neighborhood's ills as well as build on recent successes. Join
us for a speech followed by a question and answer session with
Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Otto
Reich.
More About the Speakers
Otto Reich
Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs
Hosted By
Helle Dale
Senior Fellow for Public Diplomacy
Read More