Politics & Current Affairs — December 8, 2010

The U.S. Needs Latin America

After two years of Obama’s foreign policy pragmatism toward Latin America, are Republicans in Congress threatening to turn back the clock to Cold War times?

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Latin American countries have been expanding their ties with one another…and there is a deepening consensus that their differences should be worked out in an atmosphere of mutual respect. …If Washington, instead of accepting this new reality, relies on antagonistic foreign-policy dogma to placate local constituencies, it will only lose in regional and global influence.

…Latin American countries are gaining in confidence and increasing their political and economic connections with the rest of the world. …It’s not just Latin America that needs the United States anymore; increasingly, the United States needs Latin America.

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