Why Latin America hates Bush - Time magazine

[sarettah]

Man George W just makes friends all over...

http://www.time.com/time/world/artic...126425,00.html

After pledging during his 2000 election campaign to correct Washington's indifference to Latin America, the President is viewed as having all but turned his back on the region after most Latin American capitals declined to back his invasion of Iraq. But Bush's hemispheric cold shoulder has backfired: It created a political vacuum that has been largely filled by neo-leftists like Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez

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Far from being the mejor amigo he promised to be, Bush today is arguably more unpopular in Latin America than any U.S. president in history.

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another is the perception that Bush is a Monroe Doctrine throwback to heavy-handed U.S. interventionism in the region. That image caught fire after the Bush Administration was widely accused of backing a failed coup against Chavez in 2002 (a charge the White House denies). Fuel was added last summer when conservative televangelist Pat Robertson—a high-profile supporter of President Bush — publicly called for Chavez's assassination.

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But Bush's biggest south-of-the-border PR problem is economic. Even before the start of the November 4-5 Summit, devoted to combating poverty and creating jobs, Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela and other Latin nations banded together to nudge Washington's Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) proposal off the agenda. The move, which has angered the Bush Administration, reflects growing skepticism in Latin America over the virtues of free-market reforms, which many believe have simply widened the chasm between rich and poor in a region that already displays the world's worst disparities in wealth.

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The reality for Washington is that the region's neo-leftist revival extends far beyond the bluster of Chavez: At least eight Latin American nations either have recently elected left-wing heads of state (including the region's largest economy, Brazil) or have leftists leading in the polls for upcoming presidential elections (including Mexico and Bolivia). Failure to engage the region's new politics will not only have economic consequences; it could also imperil other key U.S. goals in the hemisphere such as the war on drugs, immigration reform and the consolidation of democracy.