Colombia Passport

The Cuban embargo, migration, fight on drug trafficking and changes, were the claims of the Latin American governments to new elected president Baruck Obama.

Latin American countries welcome the election of the new USA president, Barack Obama. From leftist governments like the ones of Caracas and La Paz to the most USA friends like Bogotá and Mexico, there were words of sympathy for the Democratic Senator, who is also the first Afro-American person to be elected as president of the North American country. For many Latin American governments, Obama represents a big change in the foreign politics of Washington toward the region, especially in what is expected on migration policies and trade.

While a Bush administration was more concentrated in its Iraq war, the Middle East conflict, the war on terror and the financial crisis, Latin America considered in general that the Washington-Lat. America agenda was put aside by the Bush administration. At the other side, countries like Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia have shown in recent years a strong position against the USA policies in the region. Even countries like Mexico, an important USA ally, got its differences with the White House for situations like the increase of Mexican illegal citizens in the USA territory. A common will to end a 46 years embargo of Cuba was a claim of Latin America recently. All these events will be faced by a new US president that never has been southern of the Rio Grande, like it was pointed out by John McCain in the McCain-Obama last debate. However, Obama has promised to open a dialogue with controversial Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez Frías, while continuing the support of the fight against drug trafficking in Colombia. Obama is also favorable to the politics of president Álvaro Uribe Vélez to combat FARC guerrillas, even outside Colombian, as it happened already in a Colombian army incursion into the Ecuadorian territory in March 2008 (ref. La Nación: “Operativo anti-FARC desata grave crisis diplomática.” March 3 2008.) (more…)