Problems in Latin America Can’t Wait on Bush Forever

Far from the campaign against terrorism and the theater of war in Central Asia, the Western Hemisphere appears to have dropped off Washington’s radar screen. Anti-terrorism has become the linchpin of U.S. foreign policy decision-making.

As a result, Latin America has been left to fend for itself.

The social and economic shambles that today characterize Argentina, the unforeseeable political future of Venezuela and the precarious peace process in Colombia are just some of the issues crying out for sustained U.S. attention.

Mexico, however, is probably the most powerful indicator of the distance that has developed as the U.S. deals with new challenges to its security.

Most of Latin America is watching for signs that the U.S. has not forgotten it, and those signs are inevitably measured by Washington’s relations with Mexico.

Mexico was one of the Bush administration’s first and probably paramount foreign policy success stories.

During the early days of his presidency, George W. Bush and his foreign policy team recognized the need to meet President Vicente Fox halfway in his gamble to dramatically alter the face of U.S.-Mexico relations. Immigration, border infrastructure, counter-narcotics cooperation, trade and even hemispheric issues were at the core of an agenda that Bush and Fox used to chart a visionary path for their nations.

Today that bold bilateral agenda is stalled. All eyes will be on President Bush during his scheduled trip to Monterrey, Mexico, in March to see if he provides a jump-start to that moribund agenda.

Despite Washington’s immediate concerns regarding terrorism, the fundamental reasons for its current inattention to Mexico are not easy to fathom, given what is at stake.

Mexico’s prompt actions to bolster security along its border with the U.S. and its willingness to support anti-terrorism measures at the United Nations and the Organization of American States clearly demonstrate that it is a trustworthy ally in the struggle against terrorism. Fox and Bush consult each other on a regular basis, and Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castaneda and U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell have developed a personal friendship.

The challenges and opportunities identified by Bush and Fox during their numerous meetings in 2001 still are there to be tackled and exploited.

Migration from Mexico to the United States, and the effect it has on labor markets and productivity in both countries, needs to be addressed. Enhanced energy cooperation at a time of increasing vulnerability of oil supplies is pending. Yet U.S. interests in pursuing its relationship with Mexico seem contingent solely on the pace of events in Afghanistan, the Mideast and elsewhere.

This current state of affairs cannot go on.

The United States can ill-afford to have Latin America turn its back on it in the search for solutions to the region’s pressing problems. During the past decade, most of the region has bet on democracy and open markets as a model for development. The risks to the hemisphere of backtracking from those choices in reaction to neglect by the U.S. cannot be underestimated.

Mexicans are still seeking jobs across the border, and the status of many of them in the U.S. remains unresolved. Border security still requires mechanisms for the secure and efficient flow of people and goods, trade disputes must be resolved, law enforcement cooperation needs streamlining and water resources must be wisely allocated.

A failure to produce long-term agreements regarding these and other issues would not only set back the relationship between Mexico City and Washington but also send a politically unsettling and thorny message for Fox’s ambitious agenda of political and economic reform in Mexico. This failure could foster powerful political and public opinion opposition in Mexico regarding closer ties with the U.S.

President Bush has a unique opportunity to build a relationship that will have a profound effect on North America and beyond. Explaining to the American people why Mexico--in the aftermath of one of the most serious challenges the U.S. has faced--is crucial to the well-being of his nation could prove to be one of Bush’s finest hours.