February 5, 2009

Obama urged to focus on Latin America

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (C) shakes the hands of supporters

WASHINGTON (AFP) — US President Barack Obama should keep his eye on Venezuela and its leftist allies, and nurture ties with close friends in Latin America including Mexico and Brazil, experts and lawmakers told a hearing Wednesday.

"I hope we keep committed to focus on Venezuela," said Connie Mack, Republican minority leader on the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere that convened the hearing.

Venezuela under socialist President Hugo Chavez has been a thorn in Washington's side since he was elected 10 years ago. Mack said the February 15 referendum that could allow Chavez unlimited reelection was an alarm signal the US should take heed of.

Polling expert Sergio Bendixen told the hearing Venezuela had close links to other leftist regimes in the region including Cuba, Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua, which he called the "socialist group."

"They are not friends, they have worked to diminish (US) power" in Latin America, he added.

Obama's predecessor George W. Bush's lack of attention to Latin America was partly blamed for the spread of Chavez' influence in the region, and subcommittee chairman and Democrat Eliot Engel warned of further leftist encroachment unless US policy changed.

"If we create a vacuum, others will rush in, like Iran or China," he said.

George Washington University professor Cynthia McClintock warned that Venezuela outspent the United States five to one in foreign aid in Latin America in the past few years.

The Obama administration was also advised at the hearing to nurture its relations with its close Latin American allies including Mexico, Colombia and especially Brazil, one of the largest developing economies in the world.

"Cooperation with Brazil significantly expanded during the Bush administration. This relationship needs to be further deepened under President Obama," said Engel.

Council of the Americas Vice President Eric Farnsworth also called on the White House to "place special emphasis on engaging more actively and creatively with Brazil as an emerging global actor."

Engel said US assistance to Mexico should go beyond the 1.6-billion-dollar anti-drug program known as the Merida Initiative that was passed last year, and address one of the root causes of the spiraling violence affecting the US neighbor.

"It also means stemming the flow of firearms into Mexico," Engel said.

"Shockingly, 90 percent of the guns that are used in drug-related violence in Mexico originate in the US," he added.

"Mexico is facing an immediate crisis battling drug traffickers and we cannot sit by," Mack said, adding that the Obama administration should consider increasing aid to all its friends in the region, including Colombia and El Salvador.