EVENTS

Date:	Thursday, September 18, 2008
Time:	1:00 PM -- 3:00 PM
Location:	Wohlstetter Conference Center, Twelfth Floor, AEI 1150 Seventeenth Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036

Salvadoran Foreign Minister: Without U.S. Commitment, Latin America May Fall to Dangerous Populists

WASHINGTON, SEPTEMBER 19, 2008--The United States needs to focus its attention on its Latin American allies, Salvadoran foreign minister Marisol Argueta said at AEI on September 18. If it fails to cultivate a strong relationship with its hemispheric neighbors, it risks the rise of more populist, anti-American leaders in the region. She especially called for the United States to cooperate with El Salvador by  liberalizing its immigration rules and by beefing up funding for the Mérida Initiative, a security cooperation agreement aimed at stopping drug trafficking and strengthening Mexican and Central American policing capabilities.

Argueta serves in the administration of Antonio Saca, under whose leadership El Salvador has been--in the words of AEI's Roger F. Noriega--"a member of a very elite and unfortunately very small club--we call them 'allies.'" Argueta echoed these comments, arguing that El Salvador shares "common values" of democracy, stability, and economic freedom with the United States.

Latin America is, however, in danger of turning away from its northern neighbor. "One needs only open a newspaper to see that Latin America is full of anti-American manifestations," she said, citing the recent examples of the expulsion of U.S. ambassadors from La Paz and Caracas. Venezuela's Hugo Chávez interferes in other Latin American countries' affairs, especially those perceived to be close to the United States, and his leftist compadres have been elected in Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Honduras. Such developments underscore Latin America's "increasing disenchantment with globalization and the liberal consensus," Argueta said.

The irony here is that populism has made conditions worse for those it speaks for, said former Bolivian ambassador to the United States Jaime Aparicio. "When we went to elections three years ago, we were expecting a Mandela," he said, referring to the election of populist Evo Morales. "Instead, we got a Mugabe." Ecuador is also home to populist overreach. Javier El-Hage of the Human Rights Foundation documented how the president dismissed nine out of eleven constitutional court members over political disagreements.

By seeming to neglect the region, Argueta said, the United States has left a "vacuum that has been filled by demagoguery and false hope." In order to restore its Latin American partnerships, she continued, the United States should increase funding for the Mérida Initiative. Argueta said that the initiative allocates too little money to Central America. She commented that El Salvador is offering to serve as an international headquarters for policing and drug interdiction but that it needs U.S. help.

Argueta also called for a U.S. "comprehensive immigration reform package" that would benefit the 1 million Salvadorans living here. She said that Congress must also extend "temporary protected status" granted for Salvadorans who fled the country's civil war from 1980 to 1992. In response to a question, she added that Honduras and Nicaragua are "free-riding" off El Salvador's commitment to democracy and the United States, as their citizens benefit from temporary protected status even as their leaders embrace anti-Americanism. Nicaragua, for example, followed Russia's lead in recognizing South Ossetia, and Iran has an enormous diplomatic presence in Managua.

Argueta said that more U.S. support is urgent, lest President Saca be defeated in the 2009 elections. The left-wing opposition, she said, "has the potential of making El Salvador go back thirty years in history," implying that U.S. neglect of the region may see more populist leaders come to power. If she is right, Noriega's "small club" of Latin American allies may become even smaller.

--EVAN SPARKS

For video, audio, and more information about this event, visit www.aei.org/event1794/.  

AEI's Latin American Outlook series, whose primary author is Roger F. Noriega, has previously addressed the Mérida Initiative, democratic solidarity in the Americas, and the rising threat of populism in Latin America.

Noriega has spoken at AEI events on the Mérida Initiative and Latin America's "Latin America's Lurch to the Left."

For media inquiries, contact Véronique Rodman at 202-862-4870 or vrodman@aei.org.

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