President Obama, the Crisis, and Latin America

Abstract

Since his election in 2008, President Barack Obama has tried without success to disguise U.S. military initiatives and the neoconservative milieu inherited from George W. Bush without changing any of the government’s strategic goals. He has developed an economic plan similar to that of his predecessor, merely replacing fundamentalist neoliberals with pragmatic ones. More broadly, Latin America has practically been erased from the map in the White House. In particular, his administration has failed to deliver in three areas: ending the Cuban embargo, respecting democratic institutions in Venezuela, Bolivia, and Ecuador, and abandoning its military agenda (the Colombia Plan, the Mérida Initiative, the Fourth Fleet). Whatever changes Obama’s presence may have introduced into the White House, Latin America remains forgotten.

US’ Interest Shifting as a Response to China’s Move in Cuba

“…Obama's policy toward Latin America was viewed as a form of obfuscation of the revised strategy and assumptions of George W. Bush (Buxton, 2011). Obama's failure to disguise US military initiatives inherited the neoconservative environment from George W. Bush without changing any of the US government's strategic goals (Gandasegui, 2011).…”

The United States and Latin America: The overstated decline of a superpower

“…24 "The United States has already lost its trade presence in the Southern Cone," Gandásegui claims. 25 While the anti-imperialists may be more gleeful in their assessment of U.S. decline, they are hardly alone. Russell Crandall wrote, "Across the region in recent years, the United States has seen its influence decline."…”