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Narrator:

In December, the State Department’s Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs Thomas Shannon led a day-long forum to review the policy goals, achievements, and the future for U.S. diplomacy in the Americas.

The United States has pursued a diplomatic policy of engagement in the Western Hemisphere by reaching out to our democratic partners. American policy seeks to support their ability to fulfill their people’s expectations for delivering economic opportunity, social justice and public security.

After the forum, U.S. ambassadors from the region gave us their comments on some of the key issues for U.S. cooperation with Latin American partners.

Narrator:

Free trade is one of America’s highest priorities with Latin American partners. An example is the Central American Free Trade Agreement, or CAFTA. CAFTA brings benefits to all participants, like investment for emerging democracies in Central America, better access to goods, more and better jobs, and improved environmental and social standards. Barbara Stephenson is the U.S. Ambassador to Panama

Amb. Barbara Stephenson:

The free trade agreement, though, if you talk about relations with the U.S., the Free Trade Agreement is emblematic of that relationship. It’s about being a reliable partner, it’s about coming through on commitments, and it’s also about a relationship – that canal is about commerce between us. And we’re by far Panama’s biggest trading partner, so trade, you know with the government, our credibility hangs on the line on the free trade agreement.

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Hugo Llorens is the U.S. Ambassador to Honduras

Amb. Hugo Llorens:

This is a country that has tremendous opportunity – you have the Central American Free Trade Agreement giving an opportunity to really strengthen the economic relationship between the United States and Honduras. The economy has grown pretty rapidly in recent years, but they face the challenges of what’s happening in the United States. Clearly the U.S. economic difficulties will have a big impact in Central America, all of Latin America.

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Paul Simons is U.S. Ambassador to Chile

Amb. Paul Simons:

On the trade side, we’re doing real well. Chile, prior to negotiating the free trade agreement with the U.S, had made a commitment to free trade as the sort of vehicle for achieving economic growth and for reducing poverty. Chile has free trade agreements with more than 50 of its major trading partners, the U.S among them. During the eighteen year period when they were negotiating these free trade agreements, they succeeded in reducing the poverty rate from about 40% to about 13%.

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America supports efforts throughout the Western Hemisphere to promote democracy. Paul Simons is U.S. Ambassador to Chile

Amb. Paul Simons:

We have terrific cooperation between our respective institutions. The Chileans were very interested in our electoral process this year, we had a huge amount of interest and curiosity in terms of our primary system, how it worked, the general election, the procedures for absentee voting, now the transition issues – they’re very, very interested in the details of our democracy and of course they have a very robust democracy – they’ve had eighteen years since the return to civilian rule there.

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Hugo Llorens is U.S. Ambassador to Honduras

Amb. Hugo Llorens:

The interest in Honduras has been really intense – it’s been amazing. I had an election night reception. We invited several thousand people and the excitement when the results were announced were amazing. It was an historic election in the United States, the Honduran people know that. You know, one of the issues is that expectations can be a little too high. But there’s tremendous excitement and it’s a new opportunity – I think it’s a good opportunity to look once again at Latin America policy.

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U.S. Ambassador to Nicaragua Robert Callahan tells us how the election of Barack Obama in the United States represents something deeper about America and how the choices of citizens can make a difference.

Amb. Robert Callahan:

I must say it was almost galvanizing in Managua, in Nicaragua. I suspect many Latin Americans were surprised that Americans were prepared to elect an African-American as their President. The symbolic value is outstanding, it really is and it shows that a country can overcome the worst aspects of its history. That culture is not determinate. And I think for all of the Latin Americans that the election of Obama was regarded as a good thing. I think perhaps they believe that it’s going to result in a profound change in American policy and I have told them in many interviews that it will not. So there won’t be a profound change in our policies. However, the symbolic value of an Obama presidency cannot be overstated.

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Security policy is often the highest priority for local citizens. The threat of terrorism, drug trafficking and other criminal activity is a key focus on U.S. relations in Latin America. Ambassador Barbara Stephenson.

Amb. Barbara Stephenson:

If you ask Panamanians in polls “what issue concerns you most” they say what many of their neighbors say and it has to do with safe streets. They’re worried about rising crime. Panama’s crime is low comparatively, but nevertheless it tops polls over and over again.

Broadly, with Panamanian public opinion, being a partner on issues that matter to them, like safe streets, I think is a key part of the embassy and we are united with you as a partner on the issues that matter to you. Safe streets matter to you – we know a lot about that. We are now shifting to community policing as a focal point of what we do in terms of sharing best practice and training and bringing down experts and it helps Panamanians see that we care about issues that matter to them and are prepared to share our own experience to help them make a shorter transition to success on it.

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In addition to law enforcement, the U.S. cooperates closely on military affairs. Ambassador Paul Simons.

Amb. Paul Simons:

Our military works very well with the Chilean military – just this week in Valparaiso, we had 11 U.S admirals present for a big naval trade show and seminar on maritime domain awareness including the Chief of Naval operations of the U.S. Navy. We had an aircraft carrier visit that was very successful earlier this year.

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U.S. Ambassador to Honduras Hugo Llorens

Amb. Hugo Llorens:

The most important thing in terms of our policy always is to support democracy in Honduras because ultimately what brings the United States and Honduras together and our people together is this real commitment to Democratic values, number one. Number two, I think an issue of great importance to both countries is the issue of international crime. The problem of security, the problem of gangs. In American cities and Honduran cities, we’re both afflicted by the violence and by the drugs. So this is an imperative for both countries to work, strengthening cooperation in the fight against international crime.

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On social issues such as human rights, education, corruption and others, many American ambassadors can call on long personal experience with local people, including some of the most significant events in recent history.

Barbara Stephenson:

I did my very first diplomatic tour in Panama from January of 86 all through that calendar year to Christmas of 87. Which are traumatic times when Panamanians think back on it; now that I go back 22 years later, it was remarkable to me in a very personal way.

Amb. Hugo Llorens:

I served in Honduras 15 years ago. So for me, Honduran people are some of the friendliest people in the world, so I have a whole bunch of friends so in a way it’s sort of coming back, it’s a little bit of a homecoming.

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Personal experience helps senior representatives of US interests be clear about American willingness to help on the issues that concern all citizens. Globalization has made long term cooperation on issues like education all the more important. Mary Ourisman is U.S. Ambassador to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean.

Amb. Mary Ourisman:

Barbados is at one end of the spectrum and then we have six other countries as well. We all have some things in common and one of them is we all have shared democracies and we’re all English-speaking countries. Great friendships have existed for a very long time. However, many of these countries as you know are fairly new countries and they’re still developing countries. Education is really key – Barbados has recognized that - a 98% literacy rate in Barbados, for instance.

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Paul Simons is U.S. Ambassador to Chile

Amb. Paul Simon:

We’re doing a lot of work to strengthen educational ties between our two countries. We have a new scholarship program that’s in place just over a year where we’re offering Chileans that don’t have prior knowledge of English the opportunity to develop their English language skills and go on to Master’s and PhD programs at U.S. universities, so that’s a very innovative program.

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Liliana Ayalde is U.S. Ambassador to Paraguay

Amb. Liliana Ayalde:

Paraguay unfortunately has been known for its high level of corruption. This is an issue that we as – both countries are very interested in trying to tackle. There’s been kind of an historic change now with latest election. President Lugo is a former priest, former bishop who is very committed and that’s probably why he got elected. People were just fed up with the corruption and his biggest fight is corruption so on that front, both the U.S. and Paraguay have a joint agenda.

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Robert Callahan is U.S. Ambassador to Nicaragua. During the forum, he participated in a webchat where he responded directly to questions about human rights in Latin America

Amb. Robert Callahan:

My first question was in Spanish and they asked me if I thought that Latin America was making good progress on human rights and there was a follow up question which encouraged me, but I told them that yes, I had gone to Latin America for the first time in 1980 and since that time, almost every country in Latin America has returned to democracy and there’s a notable progress and respect for human rights which goes hand in hand with democracy. And in the follow up, they asked me what I thought the most important element was and I said an efficient and honest judicial system. Not just the courts, but the police, the prosecutors, the public defenders…

Narrator:

This podcast is produced by the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of International Information Programs. Links to other Internet sites or opinions expressed should not be considered an endorsement of other content and views.

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