By Jim Lobe
WASHINGTON, Feb 23 2005 (IPS)

The gap between the United States and Latin America is growing ever wider, according to a new report by a major hemispheric think tank that argues the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush needs to give relations a much higher priority than it has in the past.

Washington should also strive to fully engage Brazil and Mexico, in particular, on every issue of significance in the Americas, according to the report released this week by the Washington-based Inter-American Dialogue (IAD), a group of prominent former policymakers, businesspeople, and academics from both North and South America.

The new report is the product of a task force chaired by former Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso and former U.S. Trade Representative Carla Hills. It is addressed primarily to the Bush administration and sets forth a four-point policy agenda that it says should be the basis of a U.S. partnership with its Latin neighbours in the president’s second term.

It includes working together in the Doha Round of global trade talks to reduce agricultural subsidies in order to "set the successful completion of a strong FTAA (Free Trade Agreement of the Americas)"; devising a "fresh approach" to migration issues that will permit more Latin American and Caribbean migrants to come to the United States legally; working more closely in confronting problems of crime and violence; and doing more to support democratic institutions and governance, including building a "regional partnership of democracies (to) foster democratic renewal in Venezuela".

Citing the collapse of Communist regimes in Eastern Europe in the late 1980s, it also calls for Washington to begin "dismantling the web of restrictions that prevents Cuba’s integration into hemispheric activities."

The task force consisted of 10 members from each hemisphere, including Cardoso and Hills, who also co-chair the IAD. Other participants included former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo; "Foreign Policy" editor and former Venezuelan minister for trade and industry Moises Naim; President Bill Clinton’s former envoy to Latin America, Thomas McLarty; former Bolivian President Jorge Quiroga; and two former U.S. assistant secretaries for Inter-American affairs, Viron Peter Vaky and Alexander Watson. The final 20-page report was adopted by consensus of the entire group.

Thus, the introduction is dominated by a series of arguments as to why Latin America and the Caribbean are important to the United States politically, economically, and in terms of national security.

"(O)ne constant exists for nearly all Latin American and Caribbean countries: their relations with the United States have not been satisfactory for some time," the report notes.

On trade, the report notes that the convergence of interests among the U.S., Brazil, and other Latin American agricultural exporters in reducing export and production subsidies offers a major opportunity to achieve a breakthrough in the Doha round that would, in turn, greatly improve the prospects for a strong FTAA, on which progress has lagged in recent years.

A strong FTAA, according to the group, "would firmly lock in the policy reforms that have been widely adopted across Latin America in the past 14 years" despite the growing populist revolt against them. Locking them in would "contribute in numerous ways to the prosperity and security of the United States," the report asserted.

While no substitute for the FTAA, bilateral agreements, which have been concluded with Mexico and Chile, can also help, the group said, stressing that the ratification of the pending Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), still an uphill fight for the administration, would "offer an important signal of U.S. commitment to the regional trade agenda."

Selling these agreements to domestic constituencies requires that the U.S. and its trading partners "take steps to mitigate the severe dislocations that free trade can produce," according to the report.

On migration, the report notes that "no one is happy with current U.S. immigration policies," but that "considerable agreement" exists on the core elements of a new approach, including authorising an increased number of temporary work visas for a number of sectors, in addition to agriculture; developing procedures to regularise the situation of some migrants who entered the U.S. illegally and permitting them to earn the right to legalise their status over time; and building a system aimed at achieving safe, legal and orderly movements of people across borders.

The report, which lauds Bush for making immigration reform a high priority for his second term, calls for a fair and open debate within the U.S., including its Latino population, and with the governments of Latin America, beginning with Mexico.

Washington should also do more to fight the region’s pervasive crime and violence, according to the report, which noted that the Latin American homicide rate is now twice the global average, youth gangs have thrown cities into turmoil, and both Mexico and Brazil have had to call out their militaries to deal with drug trafficking.

Washington has a key role to play in all these problems, according to the report, which calls on it to put more resources into alternative employment programmes in drug-producing areas; stepping up efforts to control illegal arms exports to Latin America; and reviewing its practice of deporting convicted felons to their countries of origin.

Washington should, in particular, continue supporting Colombia’s efforts to deal with paramilitary forces and guerrillas and devote "urgent attention" to Haiti, where violence and drug smuggling require "a sustained effort to remake the country’s politics and economy," the group said.

As to supporting democratic governance, Washington should "under no circumstances" endorse – or even appear to endorse – an unconstitutional transfer of power or withhold the means to prevent one" and should also avoid taking sides, as it has in Central America, in electoral processes.

In this area, according to the group, "Venezuela is a cause for grave concern" due to the country’s polarisation and President Hugo Chavez’s "little respect for democratic procedures."

"Steady, collective pressures by many countries is the best way to meet Venezuela’s challenges," it said.

In all cases, including Cuba, according to the report, the most effective way to deal with internal governance problems is through multilateral, rather than unilateral, action, according to the group.

In that respect, Washington should recognise the "special importance" of Brazil and Mexico as "Latin America’s two largest and most influential nations".

Resolving the migration question with Mexico would greatly strengthen its ability to support the United States on other issues, while, despite past clashes with Brazil, the Bush administration and Congress should see its growing influence "positively" and work with it toward common goals.

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