MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Democracy in Latam, a success story ‘except for Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua’
Secretary of State Department in Congress Latin America is enjoying growth and stable democracy with the “notable exceptions” of the leftist governments of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday.
Clinton had special praise for Brazil, Chile and Colombia in testimony to the Senate Appropriations Committee as she discussed her proposed 2012 budget.
Latin America, “with notable exceptions like Cuba and a few others like Venezuela and Nicaragua,” has “moved into an era of sustainable democracy and economic growth,” Clinton said.
Brazil “is booming,” Clinton told the senators. “It is a real success story.”
”They have the highest tax to GDP (gross domestic product) ratio in the hemisphere,“ she said, ”and they use that money to invest in social inclusion, improve their education and health systems.“
Chile ”similarly has good leadership and made good investments,“ Clinton said, while there has been ”a successful US partnership” with Colombia regarding its war with leftist guerrillas and Bogotá’s crackdown on drug trafficking.
The head of US diplomacy was in Congress to defend her 2012 budget and underlined State Department policies that have helped and sponsored democracy and institutional consolidation in Latin America.
Ms Clinton admitted the region often “does not receive the attention it deserves” but she underlined that President Barack Obama would be travelling to Brazil, Chile and El Salvador March 19/23.
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Read all commentsOnce again she omits to mention Argentina,
Mar 04th, 2011 - 01:55 pm 0but mentions her dreaded big 3, but to be honest I think this is more of a personal opinion rather than American official policy, it is well known the she and mr obama does not like certain countries in the Americas‘,
but I still think this may have the personal touch from mrs Clinton,
just an opinion.
President Chavez of Venezuela, in the middle of his constitutional term in office, himself started a plebiscite on his popularity, and he handsomely was reconfirmed as the democratically elected president. If this is not democracy, WHAT it is? Perhaps the “democratically elected” government of Honduras, that she fails to mention? Well of course she mention Colombia, the drug cartel government of the most violent and corrupt country of SA, for her, that's democracy!
Mar 05th, 2011 - 01:44 am 0The USA has its foreign policy, as the rest of the imperial axis that governs this world, and basically rest in this precept:
THERE ARE 'GOOD” AND 'BAD' GOVERNMENTS, DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED HEADS OF STATE, DICTATORS, TERRORISTS, CITIZEN, IT ONLY DEPENDS WHERE THEY ARE WITH U.S OR AGAINST U.S. The rest is bullshit!
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