International Herald Tribune Editorial - George Bush goes south

International Herald Tribune Editorial - George Bush goes south
Copyright by The International Herald Tribune
Published: March 9, 2007

President George W. Bush came to office six years ago pledging a "fundamental commitment" to Latin America.

Whether because events elsewhere distracted him or because he was incapable of concentrating on more than one or two foreign challenges at a time, Bush has failed to keep that promise. As he hops from Brazil to Uruguay to Colombia to Guatemala and finally to Mexico on his current Latin America tour, he is certain to hear well-founded complaints about the consequences of his inattention to the southern hemisphere.

Administration spokesmen have been denying that the president's trip is meant to counter the influence of the Venezuelan president, Hugo Chávez. But Bush's hosts know better.

If the president hopes for even modest success, he will have to alter his past approach to Latin America. Instead of harping on a militarized war on drugs or free-trade agreements that seem only to exacerbate poverty and disparities of wealth, Bush ought to heed the particular local needs of the countries he visits.

In Brazil, his first stop, he is likely to be told it is hypocritical of the United States to maintain a tariff of 54 cents per gallon on imported ethanol. Brazilian sugar-based ethanol is considerably cheaper to produce than U.S. corn-based ethanol, and so the U.S. tariff on imported ethanol amounts to a protectionist barrier for U.S. corn producers — exactly the sort of device American proponents of free trade commonly preach against.

If Bush wants to respond to Mexico's central concerns, he will take to heart complaints he is sure to hear from President Felipe Calderón about the U.S. failure to keep a promise to legalize undocumented Mexicans working in the United States. And Bush will also have to recognize that the United States cannot be considered a good neighbor if it builds a 700-mile wall along the Mexican border.

In Mexico as elsewhere in Latin America, the best way for Bush to begin rolling back the Chávez tide is by undoing some of the damage done during the past six years of