Foreign policy in Latin America

Trade with Colombia

Vincent Volpi, CEO, PICA Corp., USA Today

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Columbus, Ohio - As a CEO who has lived and worked in Colombia, I felt compelled to respond to "Colombia works to escape its past." Though the story is balanced and accurate, it doesn't include the broader impact of U.S. foreign policy in Latin America or the consequences to the USA of failing to act on Colombia's pending free-trade agreement (USA Today, Money, Cover story, Oct. 4).

While we play partisan politics with our backyard best friends and perpetuate the failed foreign policy of generations of U.S. leaders, Latin American authoritarian regimes are exercising hegemony with "checkbook diplomacy" to control energy resources.

They are forging alliances with other petrochemical-fueled, Middle Eastern extremists. Congress has been standing idly by while our enemies, such as al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups, infiltrate countries like Paraguay. These groups are gaining a foothold, funding and infrastructure in order to do the USA harm. Further, Asian countries are taking advantage of the economic vacuum we are creating in the Latin American region and moving in aggressively to control one of the world's fastest growing markets. Congressional leadership grandstands against globalization while jobs and opportunities in the global marketplace pass Americans by.

This past spring, as part of a delegation to Congress with the Council of American Companies to promote the free trade agreement and Plan Colombia, I was shocked at the lack of interest in Latin American affairs among the people I talked to.

This is what is wrong with our foreign policy. We are fickle partners who wait for the mountain to come to us, rather than going to the mountain.