so bush is planning on a tour of latin america to discuss with leaders the poverty and lack of access to education and proper housing. the article i read (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6421701.stm) is insane! the writer totally makes bush out to be this missionary, bringing education and food to the poor brown hungry countries of the south.
he's quick to bring up facts about the dire situation in much of latin america, but fails to show how US american neoliberalism is responsible for the poverty of latin america. i just read another article that reported "from 1980-2000 GDP per person grew by only 9 percent, and another 4 percent for 2000-2005. Compare this to 82 percent for just the two decades from 1960-1980.." these policies aren't working.
furthermore, the way bush plans on implementing change in latin america is by sending "$75m for Latin Americans to learn English in their countries or in the United States, $385m dollars for housing, and funding for medical assistance via military teams." sending money is a simple act of charity that, if given directly to the corrupt government leaders (which probably will happen), will not go to the programs needed to truly generate a healthier economy.
charity is not effective when there are real problems in the entire economic system. policy needs to be changed so that it is effective for the specific situation of each country.
what the issue is for the bush adminstration is a fear that latin america won't be it's economic pool anymore, that latin america might assume some agency in the international arena. latin america doesn't need the bush adminstration or any type of charity from north america. and that scares the shit out of the US.
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Why do you seem so surprised this is a Bush policy we are talking about here. I mean when has anything he's ever done for this country been good or effective. This is just part of his lame-duck agenda.
He's been remarkably successful with his Millenium Challenge program in Africa. Latin America is the next logical major focus.
Plus, after the North American Union is formed, an American Union is not far behind. They've been negotiating how to set this up, trade-wise, for years (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Trade_Area_of_the_Americas).
And guess who would have authority over who get in on all this 'aid'? The US government. And guess what else is in South American countries like, oh, Columbia? OIL. And charity's a great foil for underlying political and tactical gains.