Following up on his meetings in Canada last month, today Senator
John McCain began a three-day visit to Colombia and Mexico. Senator
Barack Obama has not announced any planned visits to Latin America,
but he outlined his policies toward the region in a recent speech
in Miami.
Both candidates' actions underscore top U.S. policymakers'
recognition that Colombia and Mexico are of tremendous strategic
and commercial importance to the United States. The positions put
forth by the Democrat and Republican presidential candidates,
however, reflect the sharply different approaches each would take
in shaping future U.S. policy toward Latin America.
A Strong Trade Partner
Senator McCain will meet today with Colombian President Alvaro
Uribe, a staunch ally of the United States and a supporter of
market-based democracy. Since 2002, Uribe, with great courage, has
been fighting to build a more democratic and prosperous
Colombia.
Despite Uribe's successes, at the apparent behest of U.S.
organized labor and its protectionist agenda, House Democrats are
using any and every excuse to avoid approving a U.S.-Colombia Free
Trade Agreement (FTA). The FTA would encourage continued economic
progress and stability in Colombia, but when President Bush sent it
to Congress in April for approval, Democratic congressional
leadership all but declared it dead-on-arrival. Via an ex-post
facto change to the "Fast Track" ground-rules that have been a
bedrock principle in U.S. trade negotiation policy for the last 35
years, Congress reneged on a pledge that the agreement would
receive a straight up-or-down vote within 90 days of
submission.
Joint Resolve to Defeat Drug Kingpins and
Narco-Terrorists
In addition to his support for free trade agreements, President
Uribe has proven to be a staunch ally in the Western Hemisphere's
battle against drug kingpins and narco-terrorists. Specifically,
President Uribe and President George W. Bush have continued the
Clinton Administration's Plan Colombia to curb cocaine
production and smuggling as well as to reduce the drug-related
violence plaguing Colombia. In 2002, the Bush Administration and
Congress increased the funding for Plan Colombia,
strengthening the program though a multi-pronged approach:
eradication and interdiction, disarmament of paramilitary and
guerilla groups, and alternative employment for coca farmers.
Subsequently, Plan Colombia has helped Colombian authorities
eradicate record levels of illicit crops, interdict cocaine
shipments, and extradite narco-traffickers to the United
States.
Plan Colombia has also bolstered the Colombian
government, allowing President Uribe to intensify his nation's
long-running fight against violent drug cartels. Under Mr. Uribe's
leadership, violence has dropped by impressive amounts. The murder
rate has fallen by almost half, and kidnappings have decreased
substantially. Terrorist attacks have also decreased, and thousands
of illegal combatants have been disarmed. People in Colombia now
feel free to walk the streets of some cities, such as Medellin,
which were among the most violent in the world a decade ago.
President Uribe has also made considerable progress in the
struggle against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC),
a gang of ruthless narco-terrorists who control territory in remote
areas of the country and have been trying to overthrow democracy in
Colombia for more than 20 years. By marginalizing the FARC,
President Uribe has helped to stabilize Colombia's democratic
government. Even the FARC's erstwhile champion, Venezuelan
Dictator-President Hugo Chavez, was forced to "disown" the
terrorist organization (at least temporarily) after evidence was
found on FARC laptops seized last March by the Colombian military,
indicating Chavez intended to fund future FARC operations.
Where Do the Candidates Stand on Colombia?
In order to maintain a strong alliance with our good friends and
trading partners in Colombia, both candidates should insist on
immediate approval by Congress of the U.S.-Colombia FTA and urge
continued robust funding by Congress for Plan Colombia at
least through fiscal year 2011. These measures will help to create
private sector jobs in both the U.S. and Colombia. Expanded trade
creates the best conditions for sustainable economic growth and
development for Latin America. Likewise, Plan Colombia
ensures the stability of a friendly democracy in the politically
volatile Andean region.
Senator McCain is a strong backer of both the Colombia FTA and
Plan Colombia. By contrast, although Senator Obama has been
generally supportive of Plan Colombia, he has joined other
congressional Democrats in opposing the FTA. His programs emphasize
development initiatives for Latin American countries that rely upon
big government and "make-work" solutions that must be funded by
steadily increasing taxes. Apparently in response to pressure from
protectionist U.S. labor unions, Obama also favors the insertion of
vague and onerous new labor and environmental provisions in
existing U.S. trade agreements with our hemispheric partners that
will dampen U.S. trade and investment in Latin America.
Maintaining Strong Ties with Mexico
In addition to emphasizing the need for a continued
U.S.-Colombian partnership, Senator McCain's trip has also
highlighted the need to maintain U.S. support for positive economic
and social reform in Mexico, as well as joint U.S.-Mexico efforts
in the drug war.
Mexico has benefited from more than 10 years of membership in
the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Canada and the
United States. NAFTA has enabled a growing middle class in Mexico
to enjoy greater prosperity and freedom. They, in turn, saw through
and rejected the tired and discredited populist-leftist rhetoric of
the Revolutionary Democracy Party (PRD) in Mexico's 2006
presidential election. Center-right Mexican President Felipe
Calderón's narrow electoral victory over the PRD's Andres
Manual Lopez Obrador (AMLO) was very important for U.S. national
security. AMLO is an ally of Hugo Chavez and would have made life
difficult for the U.S. had he been elected.
In a move emphasizing the need for continued strategic
cooperation between the U.S. and Mexico, on June 30, President Bush
signed into law legislation that included $465 million in initial
funding for the "Merida Initiative." A joint, three-year
U.S.-Mexico-Central America partnership, the Merida Initiative will
support the Mexican and Central American governments in their war
against illegal drugs by providing U.S. technical assistance,
training, high-tech surveillance equipment, and anti-money
laundering financial intelligence software.
Opening Mexico's Economy
Although he has made significant progress in the fight against
narco-trafficking, Mexicans and Americans alike are waiting to see
whether President Calderon's government will successfully challenge
the private- and public-sector monopolies and duopolies that
dominate huge swaths of Mexico's economy, including energy,
telecommunications, construction, food production, broadcasting,
financial services, and transportation. These non-competitive
sectors have long been a drag on economic vitality and job creation
in Mexico.
For too many decades, Mexican leaders avoided the political pain
of domestic reforms by encouraging unemployed and unskilled
Mexicans to move northward to the U.S., thus lowering unemployment
in Mexico and earning large remittances. Notwithstanding Mexico's
membership in NAFTA, the "roping off" of large areas of the Mexican
economy to benefit politically powerful rent-seekers has the same
practical effect as traditional protectionist trade barriers:
economic underperformance.
Don't Renegotiate NAFTA--Just Finish Implementing
It
Senator McCain strongly supports both NAFTA and the Merida
Initiative and will certainly encourage continuing cooperation in
these important areas. On the other hand, Senator Obama has
criticized portions of the Merida Initiative and has called for the
"re-opening" and renegotiation of NAFTA, thus potentially
jeopardizing an agreement that has produced tremendous wealth and
job creation for both the U.S. and Mexico.
What We Should Do
In order to maintain a strong relationship between the United
States and its Latin American allies:
- Both presidential candidates should declare support for, and
Congress should immediately ratify, the Colombia FTA. This is an
issue of strategic importance to the national security of the
United States and should transcend partisan politics. By continuing
to turn its back on Colombia in its hour of need, the U.S. Congress
is sending a devastating message not only to Colombians but to all
Latin Americans.
- The next administration and the U.S. business community should
immediately meet with all U.S. FTA trading partners and friends in
the hemisphere to begin a new era of economic engagement with Latin
America. A good way to start would be for the Bush Administration
to begin planning now for a meeting of the heads of state from all
of the hemispheric FTA countries (to include Colombia and Panama)
with the next U.S. President shortly after he assumes office.
- Rather than making empty threats to "re-open" NAFTA and
jeopardizing U.S. competitive advantages, both presidential
candidates should encourage Mexican President Felipe
Calderón to push the obstinate opponents of economic
liberalization in the Mexican Congress to make the many changes
needed to reform and "open up" Mexico's economy.
James M. Roberts is
Research Fellow for Economic Freedom and Growth in the Center for
International Trade and Economics at The Heritage Foundation.