Latin America

In a few past events associated with the Foreign Policy Association, many organizations associated with the region brought Latin American ideas to New York and have seen the point of view of many of Latin America’s most innovative leaders addressing internal and external issues via the FPA and associated institutions:

Most recently Heraldo Munoz, the Chilean Ambassador to the UN gave a talk at Grupo Santander in New York regarding the release of his new book, A Solitary War: A Diplomat’s Chronicle of the Iraq War and its lessons. Munoz worked in the UN Security Council during the beginning of the Iraq war and under Kofi Annan’s term as UN Secretary General. His book details the difficulty in dealing with an increasingly independent US security policy and a UN that was facing many challenges in maintaining its role as a viable international institution among the inability to contain the world’s remaining superpower. A speech by Munoz was given at Grupo Santander to compliment the launch of his latest book. It can be found on the FPA website here.

The FPA’s Children Blog last week reported on the talk given by Alejandro Toledo, the former President of Peru in April of 2008. In his talk at the Americas Society, President Toledo spoke about Democracy and Populism in the political process in Latin America and how his role as one of the first indigenous leaders to be elected in a Latin American nation reflects the new populism now present in the political process of many nations in the region. With the constant problems of poverty and new democracies in Latin America, the votes of many of Latin America’s poor has created drastic political change within many countries such as Peru, Bolivia and Venezuela. Alejandro Toledo, the eventual successor to Peru’s indicted former President Fujimori was one of the first leaders to not only lead a quiet revolution against the controlling powers in his country, but also become one of the first indigenous leaders to come from a background of poverty and child labour, to lead his country as President. A video of the talk given by President Toledo can be seen on the FPA’s website here.

In two complimentary blogs on Alejandro Toledo’s talk, Cassandro Clifford of the FPA’s Children Blog posted on Alejandro Toledo’s personal history as a child labourer and how the issue affects many in poverty in Peru. In a second post, the issue surrounding child labour itself in Peru is detailed in a thoughtful and informative posting after the Toledo post. The posting about Toledo can be found here on the Children Blog, and the accompanying post can be found here. Thank you Cassandra for all your work.

On May 14th 2008 the Americas Society/Council of the Americas and the National Endowment of Democracy hosted the Secretary-General of the OAS, H.E. José Miguel Insulza in their offices in New York to discuss how the OAS is helping develop democracy and democratic institutions within modern Latin America. With the current state of affairs in Latin America, democracy in its true form is a strong contender in many Latin American nations. As the historical forum of discussion and voice for the states of Latin America, progress and diplomacy has always worked best with the assistance of the OAS and the Americas community in resolving issues in the region.

The future of Latin America is often seen in two perspectives. One is the US and its approach to other countries in the Americas. Many in the United States see Latin America as its proper sphere of influence. While many in Latin America would prefer an increasingly independent status, the reality of geopolitics is that for better or for worse, the United States has had a lot of power in determining the future of Latin America via economic relationships, political ties and support to groups and officials in various Latin American countries. The question now is based on how the US wants to approach the region in the future. With economic successes in Mexico and Brazil and Chile, and diplomatic challenges with Venezuela and Bolivia and a mix of both with every other country, the opportunity to reengage after five years in Iraq will determine how the US progresses in the future as a regional power or a source of conflict for many of its neighbours.

In his new book The Second World and in an interview with Edward Baker of Strategy+Business, Parag Khanna of the New America Foundation discusses how the future of geopolitics will likely take shape in the future. With power becoming divided among China, the US and the EU, many regions of influence which he refers to as the Second World will often become influenced by one of the three main powers. These middle powers have yet to determine which influence they wish to presume, but as Khanna points out the opportunity for influence comes only from those powers and their ability to coordinate their diplomacy in a productive fashion. As with Latin America and the OAS, the region is essentially available for diplomacy and will be the determining factor of future influence of the US in the near future. Isolationism and the fear of working within the international community will only hurt the US in the future. The OAS and Latin America is seen as the answer for many, as Edward Baker states: “The answer lies right under our noses.”

 For Video of the May 14th discussion with the OAS click here.

For a Video Interview by Charlie Rose with Parag Khanna click here. 

For further discussion ofthe issue of US influence in the World, see The Washington Post article The Rise of Non-Americanism by Fareed Zakaria by clicking here.