Obama vs. McCain – Views on the Americas

What could Latin America expect from the next U.S. president? An article by David Adams in last Thursday’s St. Petersburg Times serves as a primer to possible policy changes with the next commander-in-chief. Here’s how the two major candidates feel about Cuba and Venezuela according to Adams:

CUBA: A McCain administration would stick with the four-decades-old economic embargo. McCain says he would try to strengthen it through greater international support. Bush tried that but didn't get anywhere.

Obama says he would immediately lift recent restrictions on Cuban-Americans traveling to the island and sending money to their families there. He says he is ready to meet with Cuban leader Raul Castro, though it is not clear under what conditions...

VENEZUELA: Both candidates have expressed concern over President Hugo Chavez's antidemocratic ways.

McCain adviser Otto Reich, whom Bush appointed as his top State Department official for Latin America, says the United States should suspend all Venezuelan oil imports, 10 percent of the U.S. total. That would send prices higher in the United States, experts say, and Chavez would likely have no problem selling his oil elsewhere.

Obama is more willing to sit down and work out their differences. "It is important for us not to overreact in relation to Chavez," he said in one recent interview. "What we must do is to make him understand that we do not want him to continue spreading anti-U.S. feelings" in the region and that "we are interested in a respectful dialogue."

Meanwhile, the very useful factcheck.org has taken both the Democratic and Republican campaigns to task for inaccurate, exaggerative, and incorrect statements. An article issued last week blasted Obama and McCain for issuing “misleading and false” Spanish-language ads.

Image- ITV News (“Custom-made Cabbage Patch Kids” of the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates).
Sources- St. Petersburg Times, factcheck.org