Refocusing on Latin America

The election of Barack Obama in the United States and the upcoming bicentennial independence celebrations of many Latin American countries provide ample opportunity for an overdue reassessment of North-South relationships. This is not just an academic exercise. So much of what happens in one nation in this hemisphere affects others. Migration, drugs, crime, energy and trade are at the top of this list. A new report by the Brookings Institution's Partnership for the Americas Commission makes some rather bold suggestions in these areas and more, many of which will be controversial, but all of which should be part of a serious discussion on how to improve hemispheric relations.

The most controversial is a strong suggestion that the United States re-evaluate its confrontational relationship with Cuba, perhaps ending the long-standing trade embargo and reintegrating Cuba into regional and global economic and policy institutions.

In another area, those of us who live along the border see and hear each day of the tragic toll that illegal drugs are taking.

More than 4,000 people have been killed this year alone in Mexico as drug traffickers battle for supremacy over super-lucrative drug routes into the United States. Here, the report's recommendations also will be controversial. It notes that the United States must focus considerably more resources on reducing demand. It notes that the number of cocaine and heroin addicts in the United States has remained steady for more than a decade despite spending tens of billions of dollars to reduce supply in Latin America.

Overall, however, one of the more useful suggestions is to focus on strengthening relationships between governments, so that addressing these and other problems will be less difficult. The establishment of an "Americas Eight" modeled on the G-8,with the hemisphere's largest nations — including the United States, Mexico and Brazil — in permanent roles, could aid diplomatic efforts.

Simple geography supports closer ties among nations in this hemisphere. Our borders don't stop our common problems.

REPRINTED FROM THE SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE.

DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC.