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McCain Touts Latin American Ties

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The Washington Post

Published: July 4, 2008

MEXICO CITY - MEXICO CITY - Sen. John McCain's trip to Colombia and Mexico this week made one thing clear: The shape of the United States' relationship with Latin America will hinge on the outcome of the 2008 election.

McCain, R-Ariz., and his Democratic opponent, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, have outlined contrasting visions of how they would conduct relations in the hemisphere.

McCain is committed to putting a new emphasis on the region, but would pursue many of the policies followed by President Bush in Latin America, with a heavy emphasis on counter-narcotics efforts, free trade and a push to curb illegal immigration.

Obama has outlined a broad approach that relies more on diplomatic efforts and expression of soft power, through more foreign assistance, an infusion of Peace Corps volunteers and a willingness to meet with hard-line leftist leaders.

Dan Lund, a longtime Mexico City-based pollster, said "there is a big difference" between the two presidential contenders.

"It's easy with McCain: He's clearly going to pursue, without exceptions, the Bush administration line, including the policy toward Cuba," Lund said. "The Democrats are kind of a mystery. They'll want to loosen things, and they won't want to fight with everybody like Bush did."

The two men's backgrounds have helped shape their divergent perspectives. McCain has visited Latin America dozens of times and took part in the bitter U.S. policy fights over the region in the 1980s, but Obama has yet to visit a single country there.

Both senators are arguing the United States needs to pursue closer ties with Central and South America to address some of the United States' most pressing problems, including illegal immigration, drug trafficking and terrorism.

McCain has made a point of stressing his knowledge of the region during his three-day tour, lavishing praise on both Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and Mexican President Felipe Calderon for their efforts to combat drug trafficking and terrorism.

In a news conference Thursday at the command center for the Mexican federal judicial police, McCain lauded Uribe for launching a successful raid this week to free 15 hostages and welcomed a recent antinarcotics agreement between the United States and Mexico as perhaps "the most important agreement" the two nations have signed.

"I am encouraged by our better relations, and I will do everything I can to continue our path of cooperation and better relations with all nations in our hemisphere," he said.

McCain's aides said his historical connection to the region, which began with his birth in the Panama Canal Zone, contrasts sharply with that of Obama.

"He's been to the Amazon rainforest, he's been to the Galapagos islands. So for him, the relationship with our southern neighbors is not just a series of briefings by an outside policy adviser because he needed to have a policy position on Latin America," said McCain senior foreign policy aide Randy Schuenemann.

"It's very hard to argue you're going to pay more attention to a region you've never bothered to visit."

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