U.S. policy toward Latin America: what happened in May 2011 Share This /

The assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, Arturo Valenzuela, let it be known that he will be leaving his post soon, to resume teaching at Georgetown University in the fall.

Valenzuela told Costa Rica’s La Nación newspaper that “There is no priority more important for the president, Barack Obama, and the secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, than the citizen security situation in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean.”

Secretary of State Clinton held a private dinner with at least six former Latin American presidents to discuss the course of U.S. relations with the region. The New York Times, citing officials, said the dinner “coincided with her sense that years of neglect had resulted in missed opportunities in the region.” Secretary Clinton also gave a speech about the region before the Council of the Americas.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the 2012 Defense Department authorization act (H.R. 1540). The House bill extends, for one year each, the Section 1004 Counter-Drug and Section 1206 Train-and-Equip military aid programs. It fails to repeat an annual public report on how -- or even in which countries -- Defense Department aid through these programs gets spent. It also authorizes $25 million for new construction at the U.S. base in Palmerola, Honduras. The Senate Armed Services Committee finished its version of the defense bill at the very end of the month (PDF press release), but we haven't seen the text yet. will take up the bill later this month.

Earl Anthony Wayne, who served as ambassador to Argentina and deputy chief of mission in Afghanistan, is the U.S. government’s nominee to be the next ambassador to Mexico. He will replace Carlos Pascual, who resigned in March after Mexican President Felipe Calderón, angered by Wikileaks revelations of Pascual’s frank assessments of Mexico’s security performance, pressed for his exit. Pascual has been named the State Department’s Special Envoy and Coordinator for International Energy Affairs.

The Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control released a data-filled report on U.S. counter-drug policy and assistance to Mexico. It calls on the State Department to hurry up its helicopter deliveries to Mexico and put more emphasis on judicial reform, among several other recommendations.

The Houston Chronicle noted that “barely 59 percent” of aid for Mexico appropriated between 2008 and 2010 has been delivered, with “big ticket” items like aircraft for Mexico’s security forces lagging farthest behind. Page 38 of the Senate Narcotics Caucus report cited above features a schedule of expected helicopter and plane deliveries to Mexico.

Mexican President Calderón paid a visit to the United States, where he spoke at events in Washington, New York and Las Vegas. In Vegas, Calderón insisted that Mexico’s violence problems aren’t affecting foreign tourists. “I saw thousands of spring breakers in Mexico having fun. My understanding is the only shots they received were tequila shots.”

President Barack Obama paid a visit to the border city of El Paso, Texas. His speech there called for immigration reform and contended that his administration had improved security conditions on the U.S. side of the border.

A day before Honduras was readmitted to the OAS, 87 members of the U.S. House of Representatives sent a letter (PDF) to Secretary of State Clinton expressing concerns about the country’s human rights situation, which remains grave nearly two years after the military coup that triggered Honduras’ OAS suspension in the first place.

Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Francisco Sánchez visited San Pedro Sula, Honduras, to participate in an event titled “Honduras is Open for Business.”

The U.S. government placed sanctions on Venezuela’s state oil company, PDVSA, for its 2010 sales of chemicals to Iran that, in the U.S. view, violate UN sanctions on Iran’s nuclear program. The sanctions affect neither PDVSA’s U.S. subsidiaries, nor the flow of about a million daily barrels of Venezuelan oil into the United States.

Ratification of free-trade agreements signed with Colombia and Panama remains stalled. The Obama administration and congressional Democrats refuse to consider the agreements until congressional Republicans agree to fund a program to assist and retrain U.S. workers who lose jobs to foreign competition.

U.S. military personnel took part in exercises in Brazil, Chile, Uruguay and in the Atlantic; construction or medical-care projects in the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Haiti and Peru; and conferences in Belize, Colombia and El Salvador.