President Bush’s latest plan for Latin America is ambitious but “more of a high-profile attempt at a victory lap than anything else” according to washingtonpost.com columnist Marcela Sanchez (image).
Earlier this week, Bush introduced the “Pathways to Prosperity in the Americas” along with representatives of eleven Latin America nations. The initiative is designed to create further cooperation in the region aside from the tiresome clichés on free trade.
Details have yet to be outlined although Sanchez believes that the program is vital in engaging countries with moderate leaders like Chile and the Dominican Republic. “It is as if the United States is recognizing what so many countries in the region have been insisting on for some time: free trade alone doesn't cut it” she wrote though she lamented the timing of the plan:
Had the Bush administration not been caught up in ideological squabbles so early [ed. - i.e. quarrels with Bolivia and Venezuela], the later efforts from moderates might have been received differently. As it stands, the age of prosperity is still out of the reach of the majority of Latin Americans and the Pathways initiative is at the very least an acknowledgement of that fact.
What do you think of Sanchez’ article?
Image- Rocky Mountain News
Sources- washingtonpost.com, The Latin Americanist, as-coa.org
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