Pubdate: Thu, 24 Aug 2006
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Page: A - 29
Copyright: 2006 Hearst Communications Inc.
Contact:  http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388
Author: John Otis, Houston Chronicle
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Latin+America
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Plan+Colombia
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DEMOCRATS SEEK CHANGE ON LATIN AMERICA COURSE

Trade Agreements Likely to Undergo Significant Revisions

Bogota, Colombia -- For the past six years, Democrats have accused 
President Bush and the Republican-controlled Congress of pursuing 
counterproductive policies in Latin America or of ignoring the region 
altogether.

Now, following their victories in midterm elections giving them 
control of the House and Senate, many Democratic lawmakers are 
promising to seek subtle policy changes for the region on everything 
from immigration and trade to U.S. military aid.

"We will be in a position to try to raise the profile of these 
issues," said Tim Rieser, an aide to Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., 
poised to take the chairmanship of the Appropriations Committee's 
foreign operations panel. "Congress doesn't drive the ship, but it 
has a big role in how far it goes and in which direction."

The first sign of a changed U.S. relationship was expected this week 
when, after years of bare-knuckle negotiations, American and 
Colombian officials gather in Washington to sign a trade agreement. 
But congressional passage of the agreement, as well as a similar deal 
with Peru, now seems in doubt because Democrats are generally more 
skeptical of trade pacts than Republicans.

The most recent trade deal approved by Congress, the Central American 
Free Trade Agreement, passed by just one vote last year in the 
Republican-controlled House. In the Nov. 7 election, 34 House and 
Senate seats switched hands from supporters of the current model of 
international trade deals to critics, according to a study by the 
Washington-based organization Global Trade Watch.

Some Democrats want to rewrite both the Colombia and Peru agreements 
to include, among other things, more environmental regulations and 
stronger guarantees for union organizers.

For now, it's unclear whether these issues can be resolved through 
side agreements or whether the trade deals will have to be 
renegotiated, which could take years.

"This doesn't mean they're dead on arrival. But they certainly will 
be delayed," said Chris Sabatini, an official of the Council of the 
Americas, a New York-based business organization.

As for Mexico, many Democrats reject the hard-line position of some 
Republicans on immigration -- including proposals to fence parts of 
the U.S.-Mexico border.

"Building a wall is not the symbol that the U.S. should have in its 
relations with Mexico and there will certainly be a different tone 
with the Democrats," said John Walsh of the Washington Office on 
Latin America think tank.

But John Bailey, a Mexico expert at Georgetown University, said the 
congressional power shift "will do little in the next biennium to 
rescue the U.S.-Mexico relationship from the inertia of the past five years."

Bailey said the elections sent a mixed message on immigration, with 
voters ambivalent about proposals that would make legal immigration 
easier and with several conservative Democrats, who are immigration 
hard-liners, elected in key races.

Farther south, Colombia stands as the largest recipient of U.S. aid 
outside of Israel and Egypt, but many Democrats are pushing for 
changes in how the money is spent.

Under the administration's "Plan Colombia" policy, the United States 
since 2000 has spent nearly $5 billion in mostly military aid to 
fight the country's narcotics traffickers and Marxist guerrillas. 
Although security has improved in many areas of the country, the 
rebels remain a threat while tons of Colombian cocaine and heroin 
continue to reach the United States.

"Six years and $4.7 billion later, the drug-control results are 
meager at best," Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., a member of the House 
Democratic leadership in the outgoing Congress, told a congressional 
hearing last June.

Many Democrats want to reduce military spending and use the money to 
boost programs to fight poverty, relocate people displaced by 
Colombia's 42-year civil war and encourage farmers of coca, the raw 
material for cocaine, to plant legal crops.

"Democrats don't plan to walk away from Colombia. We just want to 
make sure that our investment is smart," Rep. James McGovern, 
D-Mass., a member of the powerful House Rules Committee, said.

Elsewhere in the region, analysts say the Democrats will likely urge 
the Bush administration to foster cordial relations with leftist 
leaders who have recently been elected, including Evo Morales in 
Bolivia and Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua.

The goal, they say, is to prevent these governments from getting too 
cozy with President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, who is running for 
re-election on Dec. 3 and who stands as Washington's fiercest 
opponent in the region. Democrats have been almost as critical of the 
leftist Chavez -- who has called Bush "the devil" -- as the Republicans.

"It's hard to believe that there will be much interest among 
Democrats in extending an olive branch to Chavez," said John Walsh of 
the Washington Office on Latin America.

He noted that incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, 
once called the Venezuelan leader a "thug."
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake