Washington Watch - 10 June 2010
Region: On 7 June the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, visited Lima, Peru, to attend the annual summit of the Organization of American States (OAS). At the summit, Clinton stated that the OAS “suffers from a proliferation of priorities and mandates that dilute its efforts, drain its budget, and diminish its capacity". She warned that the OAS needed greater focus or it could risk losing 60% of its annual budget of US$178m funded by the US. Clinton set a deadline of September 2011 for progress to be made on the implementation of the Inter-American Democratic Charter (IADC). In the US view, implementing the IADC would “tackle regional challenges and prevent crises before they arise".
Ecuador: On 8 June the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, paid her first visit to Ecuador. During the post-meeting press conference both President Rafael Correa and Clinton said that whilst there were many difference between the styles of their governments, the relationship between the two countries was set to improve. The agenda for the meeting included a longer extension of the Andean Trade Preference and Drug Eradication Act (Atpdea), which eases access for Ecuadorean exports to the US. According to Ricardo Patiño, Ecuador's foreign minister, Clinton said that she would examine Ecuador's request for a four-year extension.
Region: After her 8 June summit with Ecuador's President Rafael Correa, Clinton gave a speech entitled "Opportunity in The Americas" setting out US policy towards Latin America. She began with compliments on Latin America's return to democracy and its successful economic management, which she said provided the basis for a new relationship. The US has four pillars for its relations with Latin America: (a) effective and accountable institutions of democratic governance; (b) security; (c) energy and climate change and; (d) equality. Her speech focused on this fourth pillar. Greater equality and fairness, she argued, would improve the region's economic performance and reduce poverty. She praised a host of Latin American governmental initiatives for reducing poverty. Her speech was an emphatic rejection of the 'trickle down' economic theory which argues that governments should not intervene in the economy and allow the markets to operate with utmost freedom; economic advancements in the top would then be expected to 'trickle down' towards the bottom. She noted that Brazil's high-tax, high-growth economic model was delivering results.
Bolivia: On 9 June President Evo Morales announced that a meeting had taken place between the Bolivian foreign minister, David Choquehuanca, and Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, during her trip to the OAS meeting in Lima on 7 June. The meeting was mediated by the Peruvian foreign minister, José García Belaúnde. Choquehuanca claimed “positive advances" in the efforts to normalise relations between the US and Bolivia following the expulsion of the US ambassador from La Paz in September 2008. The Bolivian minister said he hoped this would be the first step, over the coming months, towards better diplomatic relations.