Washington’s New Friends in Latin America

Barack Obama is taking steps to improve relations with neighbors as the first sitting US president to travel to Cuba since Calvin Coolidge in 1928. “Obama’s visit to Cuba and Argentina this week underlines the United States government’s effort to make new friends and rebuild old relationships in Latin America,” writes Patricio Navia for the Buenos Aires Herald, adding that “as the US did not react so strongly against other non-democratic governments in the hemisphere, Latin Americans resented the heavy-handed approach from Washington to Castro’s revolution in Cuba.” The embargo against Cuba remains in place and must be lifted by a US Congress that is polarized and inactive. Navia points out that failure to engage and military interventions do not promote democracy. Latin American leaders worry that warm relations may not last beyond 2016 as US presidential candidates take protectionist stances. – YaleGlobal