The Foreign Service Journal, February 2005

F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 5 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 41 F O C U S O N T H E P O W E L L L E G A C Y A B LEMISHED L ATIN A MERICAN R ECORD n clear contrast to President Bush’s much-vaunted decision to make hemispheric relations a priority, Secretary of State Colin Powell never articu- lated a vision for the region. With the exception of per- sonal efforts on behalf of jailed human rights worker Lori Berenson in Peru, the Secretary of State was rela- tively indifferent to Latin America. Lamentably, his record bears out this apathy, revealing major flaws in the area of staffing, an indifference toward democratic institutions, and tolerance for intervention in the inter- nal affairs of regional nations. The Secretary of State allowed ideologues like Otto Reich, Roger Noriega and his assistant Dan Fisk, to define regional ties, primarily through an anti-Havana prism. Consequently, America’s standing in the hemisphere plummeted, with 85 percent of Latin Americans eventually opposing the administration’s Iraq strategy and with Powell’s person- al standing fast fading. Powell’s narrow focus on trade and terrorism, and his non-negotiability stance toward Cuba, guaranteed a record at least as mediocre as it had been under all Republican and Democratic predecessors. If anything, during Powell’s watch, U.S. regional policy has been marked by even more acts of arrogance, squandered opportunity and unbridled unilateralism — typified by the heavy-handed interventions in the electoral process- es in Nicaragua, Bolivia, El Salvador and Venezuela. Though a dramatically new direction is needed to restore Washington’s tarnished reputation in Latin America, any prospect for constructive engagement now appears distant. One can only foresee in a Bush second term a regional policy even more disjointed and colored by ideological priorities; as a result, the hemisphere can expect four more years of the gun-slinging, bluff rhetoric and imposed “diplomacy” it has experienced at the hand of the band of hard-liners under Powell. Blatant Meddling Early in his first term, the president seemed to be set- ting the tone for a more positive U.S. role in the hemi- sphere, stating he saw only “opportunities and potential when he looked south.” He buoyantly noted, “Some look south and see problems; not me.” Yet this ebullience failed to materialize into a policy of constructive engage- ment under Powell. On the contrary, State Department functionaries began acting as though “free elections” were a license to openly coddle local political factions that had garnered their approval, while ominously highlight- I T HE S ECRETARY ALLOWED A CLIQUE OF HARD - LINERS WITH TIGHT LINKS TO W HITE H OUSE POLITICAL OPERATIVES LACKING COMPREHENSION OF THE REGION ’ S REALITIES TO DICTATE POLICY . B Y L ARRY B IRNS AND J ESSICA L EIGHT