From Monroe to Bush: A sorry tale if lost influence …

NRC Handlesblad, The Netherlands

How Bush Killed the Monroe Doctrine

"After seven years of Bush Jr. in Washington, nothing is left of this policy … Only after a new American president takes office will there be a new vision for the ancient Western Hemisphere."

EDITORIAL

Translated By Meta Mertens

November 13, 2007

The Netherlands - NRC Handlesblad - Original Article (Dutch)

Nothing is heard today of the Monroe Doctrine . Yet there's more than enough cause to dust off this chapter of American history. The Doctrine was formulated in 1823 by then-President Monroe . He wanted to keep Europe's colonial powers out of the Western Hemisphere. Over the course of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the Doctrine was regularly adjusted depending on circumstances. But one narrow thread remained intact: The foreign policy of the United States had been aimed at maintaining influence.  During the Clinton era (1993-2001) this policy reached its zenith - in a positive sense. Cooperation throughout the Americas took place in an increasingly democratic context. 

After seven years of Bush Jr. in Washington, nothing is left of this policy. Only a sliver remains in Mexico, Columbia, Peru and a few Central American countries. Everywhere else, the governments in power have withdrawn from American dominance. And the end of this recent trend is not yet in sight, which was evident in the victory of Cristina Kirchner in the Argentine presidential election .

In and of itself, this isn't reason for concern. Fortunately, we are beyond the era in which “sordid” dictatorships like those in Argentina and Chili are backed by Washington. Moreover, it would be unreasonable to lump all of these governments together. The socialist government of Michelle Bachelet in Chili is much different from the populist Peronist government in Argentina. The same applies to the Lula government in Brazil, which is the most important power in the region with its 200 million inhabitants.

But neither are these developments that the U.S. can ignore. Compared to the challenges that the U.S. now confronts elsewhere in Latin America, America's obsessive fear of Cuba is a mere echo of the past. 

Hugo Chavez personifies this. Oil-rich Venezuela was long the least controversial and most faithful U.S. ally. But under his control it's not only an exporter also of ideas and money. The financial influence that oil offers is considerably greater than that of sugar cane and tobacco in Cuba. Chavez is using these resources to improve Venezuela's military - and he isn’t shopping for U.S. weapons. Elsewhere, arming oneself with non-U.S. weaponry is the order of the day.

That doesn't necessarily indicate that Chavez has military ambitions beyond his own borders, but it's an indication that on all levels, the region wants to disengage itself from the nasty pattern in Washington.

The U.S. has no answer to this, mainly because the Bush Administration has no eye for the multifaceted character of the new world order in Latin America. It'll be another year before such change can come. Only after a new American president takes office will there be a new vision for the ancient Western Hemisphere. 

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