“Hemispheric threads”

As a matter of common sense, the Summit of the Americas, held in Mar del Plata, Argentina and the latest presidential elections in Bolivia reveal that the United Status and Latin America have definitively discarded the tendency of the 1990’s. Some have already accused Washington of having lost Latin America as if that region had previously been US property.
In fact, there are challenging facing the hemisphere, but before over-reacting we have to bear in mind a reality. Both parties had already gone too far in terms of pessimism by casting a shadow over the significance of US strategic interests: energy security, border protection, economic growth, the fight against international threats including terrorism, the struggle against drug-traffic, the environment, nuclear proliferation and the preservation of world peace.
It is not possible to take care of border problems, for instance, without US cooperation. One fourth of US economy depends on international trade: without significant commercial exchange with the hemisphere, which include oil and gas, US economic security would fall. The capability of sending the US potential abroad to secure peace, like in Afghanistan, Haiti and Africa largely depends on the assistance by Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile and the country with the largest proportional Peace Keeping Forces, Uruguay. The list is still longer.
That does not mean that we should or that we are going to agree on every point, with all nations or all the time. The Mar del Plata Summit was expected to issue an awakening call by exposing an injure that can not be easily closed. But, despite all easy considerations, it is not a matter of the United States against the rest of the hemisphere, but globalization against alterworldists with leaders such as Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, Jamaica and others, which challenge activists and demonstrators so that they oppose continental integration.
In the first place, we have to admit that we are all waging an ideological battle. As Bolivia’s presidential vote proved it, the populist program was revived and that allows to predict a relative independence with regard to US economic “imperialism”. However, such an emancipation will is illusory. It is up to the United States and the other nations to implement a more efficient and active alternative that responds to the frustrations of the southern hemisphere. In the second place, the US policy wrongly targeted only a commercial strategy with respect to its opponents. In the third place, as a proof of credibility, we must try to perpetually honour economic treaties which include the US participation so that they also serve the interests and objectives of the rest of the countries of the continent. And last, it is in the interest of all those who appreciate the United States to undertake a better information work for our own population to secure these strategies. We need better understanding of how significant regional interests are to the United States, followed by the true commitment of government elites, the business community and the media in that direction.
It is true that there are not big promises, but unlike the demonstration of the MERCOSUR Summit and the comments that will stem from it, such actions will a bigger impact on common interests of the countries of the Americas.