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Bush got nada ...
The '90s romance between the U.S. and Latin America is over. Washington had lost interest in the region even before Venezuela's leftist president spit on us.
By Michael Shifter and Peter Hakim
Michael Shifter and Peter Hakim are vice president for policy and president of the Inter-American Dialogue, respectively.

November 13, 2005

IT IS TEMPTING to take a look at the sorry state of U.S.-Latin American relations and conclude that we would all be better off if north and south went their separate ways. This month's singularly unproductive Summit of the Americas in Mar de Plata, Argentina, can be seen as sufficient proof that the impasse on such critical questions as trade is impossible to overcome. Such a view, however, would be a serious misreading of the interests at stake in both the United States and Latin America.

Public opinion polls in the region show that Latin Americans, rich and poor, are deeply critical of U.S. leadership and fervently disapprove of U.S. policies in the hemisphere and worldwide. Overwhelmingly, they dislike President Bush. And they distrust Washington, alternately charging the Bush administration with constant bullying and chronic neglect.

For its part, the U.S. government is disillusioned with Latin America and seems to have lost any interest it once had in the region. It can't seem to move on what Latin Americans want most â€â€