“The Political Bomb at America’s Back Door” - by Ron Fraser
The International Herald Tribune commented recently that a White House distracted by events in Iraq, Afghanistan and the general war on terror may be awakening to the ticking bomb at America’s back door: “[T]he Bush administration is worried that a Chávez-led bloc of radicalism may be developing in Latin America” (April 27). Additional concerns have arisen as a result of President Morales of Bolivia announcing, on the very eve of a conference in Vienna between European and Latin American leaders, his intention to nationalize his country’s oil and gas industry. This places him, with Venezuela’s Chavez, firmly on a course of closing their markets in opposition to any initiatives for free and open international trade such as the North America Free Trade Association.
Taking advantage of America’s benign neglect of its Latino neighbors, China has moved aggressively in to Latin American trade over the past decade. Though many of China’s promises to supply capital for the development of industry and infrastructure in Latin American countries have yet to materialize, Chinese-made goods are flooding into Latin America, supplying extremely stiff competition to homegrown industry. This has provoked a groundswell of concern that China may just be taking advantage of the Latinos, exploiting them in what are increasingly seen as one-sided trade deals in China’s favor.
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