Michael Shifter
Michael Shifter
Michael Shifter is President of the Inter-American Dialogue and an Adjunct Professor of Latin American Studies at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and writes for the Council's journal Foreign Affairs. He is also a member of the Latin American Studies Association, and a contributing editor to Current History...
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There has been a sense that Latin America can take care of itself, but Washington needs to start repairing the tattered relations.
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Much in the way Fidel Castro did for a half century, he said what a lot of Latin Americans would like to be able to say about the United States in a public forum, but don't and can't afford to.
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Clearly in Latin America, things are not happening the way the United States would like to see them happen. And the question is: Will the US try to be more engaged and be supportive of the people who believe in the same thing as it does, or will it react to these trends as threats to the US, which could turn them into a self-fulfilling prophecy?
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At a moment when relations between the US and Latin America are at their lowest point since the end of the cold war, this fence proposal is viewed as a terrible affront.
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The way Robertson's declarations will play in Latin America is that Chavez is right and that the U.S. is out to get him.
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There is powerful symbolism in what's happening in Costa Rica. Here is a country with enormous affinity with the United States, where there is a tremendous convergence of shared values ... and even they are not convinced that unquestioned support of the United States is in their best interests.
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When you have that amount of concentrated power, bad things tend to happen.
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To be frank, it doesn't surprise me. Chavez is a case apart; but if you look at the finance ministers -- Chile, Uruguay, Brazil -- all of them would please Milton Friedman with their fiscal discipline and their closing down of debts. And even those on the left stress 'effectiveness' as the model. It shows that the old labels don't have a lot of meaning in the present context.
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But now the test is, 'Can he follow through?' ... Ultimately, he will face real decisions.
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Washington is a specialist in doing things that benefit Chavez.
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Brazil is an absolutely critical player in the hemisphere. There is a limit to how much progress the U.S. can make on any issue, free trade included, without Brazil's support and cooperation.
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Brazil is an absolutely critical player in the hemisphere, ... There is a limit to how much progress the U.S. can make on any issue, free trade included, without Brazil's support and cooperation.
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Those words must have been welcome to anxious business groups, who feared a fiercely confrontational tone. He hit some conciliatory notes.
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She saw the problem, acted well and wisely, and cleaned up the mess. It repairs relations with key countries like Brazil and puts the United States in a much better position to play a leadership role going forward.