A Swift Challenge From Latin America

IBD Editorials ^ | December 18, 2008

[Kaslin]

Latin America: Barack Obama hasn't even assumed the presidency, but already he's getting his marching orders from a slew of hostile leftist regimes to our south. This is a sign of trouble.

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In principle, a consortium of 32 Latin American and Caribbean countries trying to solve the region's problems without the U.S. is a fine idea. But at a new summit in Brazil, participants couldn't get the U.S. off their minds.

The financial crisis, the falling price of oil and the pickle in which the worst-managed economies in the region now find themselves blurred distinctions between democratic and authoritarian regimes, all in a bacchanalia of America-bashing.

The group set the tone by admitting Cuban dictator Raul Castro on his first trip abroad as their new member. Instead of treating Raul as a pariah, he was welcomed with hugs. Worse still, the group adopted elements of Cuba's agenda as central to their own.

First demand: A resolution calling for the U.S. to drop its trade embargo against Cuba, a goal that Obama has already said he would work toward. But that wasn't enough. "We should give the new government of the United States a deadline in order to end the embargo," said Bolivia's President Evo Morales.

If the embargo isn't lifted, Morales said all U.S. envoys ought to be expelled from the region. (Morales, of course, has already shot his own bolt, expelling the U.S. ambassador to Bolivia this year.)

[Mikey_1962]

Gee Bolivia is making demands. What a loser.