Free Trade with Colombia: McCain’s Misguided Campaign
Last Tuesday, John McCain announced he will visit Colombia next week, where he is scheduled to meet with various government officials, including President Alvaro Uribe. McCain will use the visit to showcase his conservative policy agenda toward Latin America. One issue sure to be discussed is McCain’s support for the proposed free trade agreement between the two nations, which will give a good indication of how he will shape his policy to the region. Ultimately, the Republican nominee wants the U.S. Congress to ratify the trade deal as a reward for Colombia’s progress in fighting the illegal flow of drugs within its borders. McCain’s hope is to strengthen Colombia’s position as Washington’s major regional ally, which is logical given the harshly conservative leanings of the Uribe Administration.
McCain’s foreign policy in Latin America is seen as misguided, and sends the wrong message to the region. Overall, his approach almost duplicates the Bush Administration’s hemispheric policy, which is seen around the world as being deeply flawed. The Arizona Senator’s tenure as the chairman of the International Republican Institute (IRI) gives a good indication of how he will approach Latin America, if elected. The IRI, under McCain’s leadership, has a long history of undermining various legitimately elected governments in the region, beginning with the Reagan Presidency. Despite their commitment to ‘democratic initiatives’, the IRI backed decidedly undemocratic groups in order to advance US interests in the region. Fittingly, McCain has frequently referred to Hugo Chávez as a dictator, an opinion that has no basis in fact given Chávez’s popular election. McCain’s stance on Chávez makes it clear that he will do whatever is possible to contest the legitimacy of the various left-leaning, democratically elected governments in Latin America. Moreover, McCain’s support for the Colombia Trade Promotion Act (CTPA) demonstrates how he will continue to rely on the failed policies of his IRI days. The CTPA, then, is a not so subtle method of bolstering Colombia’s position as a regional power to challenge the influence of Chávez and other leftist leaders. In the end, McCain’s support for the CTPA tends considerably toward the erroneous policies of the IRI, which used whatever means necessary to destabilize legitimate governments. In this case, McCain’s support of the CTPA is myopic and fails to recognize obvious problems with the trade deal. The proposed trade agreement with Colombia is yet another example of opportunistic and self-serving U.S. policy in the region.
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This analysis was prepared by COHA Research Associate Michael Collier.
The Diplomatic Battlefield between Ecuador and Colombia: Will Uribe’s Stepping Down Readily Resolve Crisis and Tension amongst the Andean Countries?
For the Andes, the last couple of days have been a diplomatic rollercoaster. This week, the Ecuadorian and the Colombian governments were scheduled to reestablish formal diplomatic relations and appoint commercial officials. This was a major breakthrough in the resuming of ties after the Colombian incursion on the 1st of March into Ecuadorian territory. However, on June 22, Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa stated that it was his country which deserved to establish the timetable for reinstating diplomatic relations, for they where the ones who were attacked. “To establish complete relations,” he said, “we will demand that the attack be fully clarified.”
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This analysis was prepared by COHA Research Associate Erina Uozumi.