ANDEAN DIPLOMATS CONDEMN US FOREIGN POLICY; BOLIVIAN PRESIDENT WILL COME TO BROWN

Gallegos talks with audience member
February 13, 2008

Diplomats from Bolivia, Ecuador, and Venezuela last night engaged in a frank discussion of their relationships with the United States during a roundtable at Brown. US foreign policy toward Latin America has failed in several ways, they said. Among them: the inability to come to grips with the sweeping political changes in the region, continued promotion of neo-liberal policies there, and a broad brush approach to what are very diverse nations with complex issues.

The roundtable was part of a two-day conference on Changes in the Andes: Realities, Challenges, and Opportunities for Inter-American Relations. Bernardo Alvarez Herrera, Venezuelan Ambassador to the US, summed up the political changes described in the first day’s sessions by declaring that Nobody can deny, after listening to the lectures today, that something really important is going on down there.

Introducing the roundtable, former US Sen. Lincoln Chafee ‘75, a distinguished visiting fellow at the Watson Institute, referred to the revolution of participation occurring in the region. That’s a phenomenon we need to be aware of, he said. James Green, director of Brown's Center for Latin American Studies, used the occasion to announce that Bolivian President Evo Morales will give an unprecedented lecture at Brown on February 26.

Bolivia
On the diplomatic roundtable, Virginia Aillón, the first minister in the Bolivian Embassy to the United States, spoke about her country’s socialization policies and treatment of the indigenous population.

Bolivian President Evo Morales is the nation’s first indigenous president, and many of his policies have focused on the inclusion of indigenous peoples. Aillón claimed that the indigenous are often simply labeled as poor but that this masks the larger issue of discrimination. Morales recently passed a measure that transferred the ownership of large tracts of land from the elite to the indigenous people who had once owned the land but had become virtual slaves to elite owners. While there is significant opposition from the business community, owners of the press, and traditional politicians, Aillón claimed that the measure was part of a process of including Indian workers, women, children, and youth in the government of their country. These processes show the wounds of the country, she said.

Morales has also been involved in efforts to nationalize natural resources. Social changes are fundamental when we look at this process, Aill& oacute;n said of the contracts between transnational companies and the previous regimes, and Morales’ efforts to claim a larger share of the profits for the county and its people.

Aill& oacute;n also used her lecture to correct misconceptions about Bolivia that she said were propagated in the press. These include the claim that Bolivian immigrants are looking to escape their country’s new regime, which Aill& oacute;n countered by pointing to the celebrations of Morales’ policies within the Bolivian diaspora. The second involves Bolivia’s role in the war on narcotics. Aill& oacute;n claimed that the previous neo-liberal regime had violated human rights in their efforts to eradicate coca farming, while Morales favored voluntary eradication. However Aill& oacute;n also argued that coca is not cocaine, it is medicine, it is food, it is fundamentally cultural.

Addressing her country’s relationship with the United States, Aill& oacute;n criticized the US for its bloc mentality and emphasized the need for better understanding and more direct dialogue to address Bolivia’s unique concerns.

Ecuador
Luis Benigno Gallegos Chiriboga, the Ecuadorian ambassador to the United States, spoke of similarities and differences between Ecuador, its neighbors, the US, and the world. He also criticized the former neo-liberal governments while explaining how participatory government and constitutional reforms occurred in his country. Ecuador is one of the most excellent examples of democracy in the world, he said.

While Gallegos emphasized solidarity with Ecuador’s fellow Latin American countries, he added that the country has relationships with countries all over the world. In the majority of cases our cultural roots and values are very similar but that does not mean we don’t have discrepancies amongst us, he said of the Andean countries. At a press conference before the evening’s event, he called for the US to recognize the differences and engage in bilateral as well as regional dialogue.

Gallegos also said that Ecuador is willing to carry its load in the war on narcotics, but he strongly argued that the problem will not be solved unless the US realizes that it has a social problem. He added that the US military base agreement within Ecuador will end in 2009 and will not be renewed.

Gallegos strongly criticized the treatment of immigrants in the United States. Lacking a national policy, state, city, and county officials are engaging in human rights violations, he said. Stereotyping is creating a big and dramatic problem in the United States, he said. You should forget the wall, he added, because the reinforcement now going on along the US-Mexico border will not help the US create a relationship with the Americas. In addition, the US will need foreign labor to sustain its economy as the population ages, Gallegos said. We have contributed to your success, we only ask for the respect of our human rights.

Venezuela
We have gone through the process of power struggle in our countries. It has been a very painful and difficult process, said Alvarez. However it has been done democratically, he pointed out. Alvarez detailed the move toward the current system of government, emphasizing that such reform had been considered by some as impossible and by others as unnecessary. The big powers said you don’t need an alternative model, you need to adjust the model you had in the past, Alvarez said, calling the country’s former neo-liberal model a failure. The US is not accepting that there is a new reality, new leadership, a new model, he said. He also criticized the US practice of employing sanctions, arguing that they are simply based on whether or not the US likes a certain country not on good will.

Questions from Watson Visiting Fellow Christopher Lydon and from the audience focused on Latin America’s relationship with the US in terms of the 2008 elections and on the mistreatment of immigrants in the United States. Alvarez was also questioned concerning Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez’s recent failed attempts to reform the constitution.

The event was co-hosted by Brown's Center for Latin American Studies and the Watson Institute.

A Providence Journal article about the roundtable is available here. An article by the Spanish-language wire service EFE is available here.

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