Clinton Seeks to Mend Latin America Ties on Tour

Daniel Cancel and Lucia Baldomir
Bloomberg
March 1, 2010

 March 1 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is seeking to repair strained ties with Latin America during a six-nation tour this week after early optimism about a new relationship under President Barack Obama fizzled.

The toughest leg of her journey may come today, when she’ll cross paths with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez at the inauguration of Uruguayan President Jose “Pepe” Mujica. Chavez has been a vocal critic of the U.S.’s handling of the military coup in Honduras, its agreement to boost troops in Colombia and limited progress in improving relations with Cuba.

From Uruguay, Clinton will go to Buenos Aires and then to Chile, where she’ll see some of the destruction wrought by the 8.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Feb. 27, killing hundreds. Her trip to the region is designed to surmount doubts from regional leaders including Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva about Obama’s promise last year for a “new direction” in relations.

“She’s on a damage control agenda,” said Juan Gabriel Tokatlian, professor of international relations at Universidad Torcuato Di Tella in Buenos Aires. “If she comes with an agenda she will be listened to, but if she came only for a goodwill tour some leaders will ask her why she even bothered...”

...Clinton sees a possible ally in Mujica, a former leader in the Cuban-inspired Tupamaros movement who in years past would have been more likely to align himself with Chavez, said Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the New York-based Council of the Americas.

Uruguay and the U.S. have been in talks to promote direct trade outside of the Mercosur trade bloc, in order to sidestep higher tariffs supported by members Argentina and Brazil.

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