MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Hillary Clinton at Uruguayan President Mujica’s inauguration

The Secretary of State will reaffirm US interest in the region

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be visiting five Latinamerican countries next week beginning in Uruguay, representing President Barack Obama at the inauguration ceremony of president elect Jose Mujica on March first, according to Washington diplomatic sources.

While in Uruguay Hillary Clinton is scheduled to hold a meeting with Argentine president Cristina Kirchner. Relations between the US and Argentina can be considered normal but distant from the more fluid dialogue with other Mercosur members (Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay) and Chile.

The festivities in Montevideo, half an hour’s flight from Buenos Aires, seem a good opportunity for a face to face meeting of the two ladies.

From Uruguay Ms Clinton flies to Chile to farewell President Michelle Bachelet who will be leaving office on March 11, when conservative Sebastian Pilñera is inaugurated.

Chile is a privileged and close associate of the United States, one of the few in the region that can boast a free trade agreement with Washington and has also had access to sophisticated weapons from the Pentagon’s arsenal such as the F-16 fighter bomber.

When Bachelet took office four years back, former President George Bush’s was represented by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

From Chile the Secretary of State will be travelling to Brazil to meet with President Lula da Silva in preparation for President Obama’s visit sometime in the following months. She will most possibly also meet cabinet chief Dilma Rousseff recently nominated as the ruling Workers Party candidate.

However Lula da Silva’s announced visit to Iran in May could be seen as an obstacle, according to Washington sources. Nevertheless relations between Brazil and the US are considered excellent and Itamaraty has as Deputy Minister Antonio Patriota, an expert in US affairs until recently ambassador in Washington.

The next stops will be in Central America, Costa Rica and Guatemala. In Costa Rica Ms. Clinton will congratulate president elect Laura Chinchilla, the country’s first woman president. Costa Rica is also a staunch ally of Washington and the most stable country in the region.

The visit of Hillary Clinton is seen as a quick reply from Washington to the Rio Group meeting in Mexico, which agreed on the creation of a new regional organization but excluding United States and Canada; a confirmation that Latinamerica weighs and heavily in Washington’s overloaded foreign affairs agenda.

For Uruguay, Ms Clinton’s visit can be seen as an “upgrade” since five years ago the then Republican administration sent Eliane Chan, Secretary for Labour, which two years later repeated when Mrs. Kirchner took office in December 2007.