Latin Lands Don’t Share Powell’s Priorities

At the annual conference of the Organization of American States, US Secretary of State Colin Powell tried to leave behind all ideological differences between the North and the South over the war in Iraq. Instead, he emphasized the current US position in Latin America – to allow more free trade through prospective treaties like the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA), and to pressure Castro's Cuba into a "democratic transition" by condemning its recent human rights violations. Many Latin American states, however, disagreed with Powell, and stressed instead the importance of social justice and good governance as the necessary conditions for overall economic development. A Canadian official who commented on the Cuba issue, claimed it unfair to condemn Cuba since it was absent at the conference and so could not defend itself. Disagreement over the future of a US envisioned "path to hemispheric free trade" was also noted. Many nations in Latin America feel that "Washington is demanding a lot and offering relatively little." – YaleGlobal