Montag
03-06-2008, 11:28 AM
US Diplomacy Sidelined by Loyalty to Uribe
by Jim Lobe
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/03/06/7523/
excerpt:
WASHINGTON - Washington’s strong backing for President Alvaro Uribe has all but removed it from playing any significant diplomatic role in defusing the crisis sparked by Saturday’s attack by Colombia on anti-government guerrillas on Ecuador’s territory, according to analysts here.
The incident, which resulted in the death of at many as 22 members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), including a top commander, Raul Reyes, provoked Quito to break relations with Bogota and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to deploy troops and tanks to the Colombian border in support of his Ecuadorean ally.
President George W. Bush also used the incident to press his case for Congressional approval of a long-pending free trade agreement (FTA) with Colombia, which his administration has increasingly depicted as a bulwark against radical regimes in the region led by Chavez.
“My message to the United States Congress is that this trade agreement is more than a matter of smart economics,” he told reporters after speaking by telephone to Uribe Tuesday morning.
“It is a matter of national security. If we fail to approve this agreement, we will let down our close ally, we will damage our credibility in the region, and we will embolden the demagogues in our hemisphere,” he declared.
Bush’s statement provoked some dismay among analysts here and in the region not only because of its awkward juxtaposition of trade with questions of war and peace, but also because of its unqualified support for Uribe at a moment of fast-rising tensions.
“The more we can keep this within the Latin American sphere, the better the chance of a solution and avoiding a polarisation in the region,” said Brazilian Foreign minister Celso Amorim, a key mediator in the crisis, when he was asked to comment on Bush’s remarks.
Adam Isaacson, a Columbia specialist at the Centre for International Policy (CIP) here, called Bush’s statement “kind of cynical”.
“According to Bush, the incident is not why we have to lead a diplomatic offensive to calm the situation or to increase aid to the region,” he said. “It’s why the Democrats have to pass the FTA.” He added that Democrats may now be even less likely to approve the measure than they were before.
Apart from Bush’s plea for passage of the FTA, however, the official U.S. reaction to the crisis has been relatively restrained, as Washington’s diplomats acquiesced in mediation efforts led by Amorim and the secretary-general of the Organisation of American States (OAS), Jose Miguel Insulza.
Those efforts resulted in the OAS’s approval Wednesday of a resolution to mount an official investigation of the incident and convene a foreign ministers’ meeting to review its results.
by Jim Lobe
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/03/06/7523/
excerpt:
WASHINGTON - Washington’s strong backing for President Alvaro Uribe has all but removed it from playing any significant diplomatic role in defusing the crisis sparked by Saturday’s attack by Colombia on anti-government guerrillas on Ecuador’s territory, according to analysts here.
The incident, which resulted in the death of at many as 22 members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), including a top commander, Raul Reyes, provoked Quito to break relations with Bogota and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to deploy troops and tanks to the Colombian border in support of his Ecuadorean ally.
President George W. Bush also used the incident to press his case for Congressional approval of a long-pending free trade agreement (FTA) with Colombia, which his administration has increasingly depicted as a bulwark against radical regimes in the region led by Chavez.
“My message to the United States Congress is that this trade agreement is more than a matter of smart economics,” he told reporters after speaking by telephone to Uribe Tuesday morning.
“It is a matter of national security. If we fail to approve this agreement, we will let down our close ally, we will damage our credibility in the region, and we will embolden the demagogues in our hemisphere,” he declared.
Bush’s statement provoked some dismay among analysts here and in the region not only because of its awkward juxtaposition of trade with questions of war and peace, but also because of its unqualified support for Uribe at a moment of fast-rising tensions.
“The more we can keep this within the Latin American sphere, the better the chance of a solution and avoiding a polarisation in the region,” said Brazilian Foreign minister Celso Amorim, a key mediator in the crisis, when he was asked to comment on Bush’s remarks.
Adam Isaacson, a Columbia specialist at the Centre for International Policy (CIP) here, called Bush’s statement “kind of cynical”.
“According to Bush, the incident is not why we have to lead a diplomatic offensive to calm the situation or to increase aid to the region,” he said. “It’s why the Democrats have to pass the FTA.” He added that Democrats may now be even less likely to approve the measure than they were before.
Apart from Bush’s plea for passage of the FTA, however, the official U.S. reaction to the crisis has been relatively restrained, as Washington’s diplomats acquiesced in mediation efforts led by Amorim and the secretary-general of the Organisation of American States (OAS), Jose Miguel Insulza.
Those efforts resulted in the OAS’s approval Wednesday of a resolution to mount an official investigation of the incident and convene a foreign ministers’ meeting to review its results.