Americas Quarterly

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

FRESH LOOK REVIEWS, SUMMER 2009

From A. Lowenthal, et al.

We appreciate that Americas Quarterly com- missioned one of the first reviews of our co-edited volume The Obama Administra- tion and the Americas: Agenda for Change, published by the Brookings Institution three weeks before the Fifth Summit of the Americas.

The review, written by Daniel Fisk—a long-time senior official of the George W. Bush administration, with previous service as staff assistant to Senator Jesse Helms and as an official of the Heritage Foundation—is disappointing in content and tone, however. Rather than fairly represent and assess the arguments advanced by our 14 authors from Latin America,

Europe and the United States, Dr. Fisk distorts the volume’s message in an attempt to defend the widely discredited U.S. policies toward Latin America of the early George W. Bush administration, policies he helped to frame and implement.

We readily acknowledge that some of our book’s arguments may “fall short”

(as Fisk repeatedly asserts), and agree that a complete treatment, difficult to achieve in a manageably sized volume, might have included more extended discussion of Brazil, Ecuador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua as well as deeper analysis of the strengths and limits of the Organization of American States.

As long-standing advocates of U. S. and international efforts to effectively promote democratic governance, we cannot accept, however, Dr. Fisk’s assertion that we and other authors in the volume “hold the United States to be primarily responsible for democracy being on the defensive in Latin America,” a statement that directly contradicts the analysis our book presents. Nor can we accept as fair Dr. Fisk’s assertion that our “recommendations…suggest a willingness to minimize, if not discard, support for democracy in exchange for pragmatic interaction on issues like migration, energy and drug-trafficking.”

These and similar arguments by Dr. Fisk reflect a mindset that we do want to change: one that presumes that U.S. unilateral and punitive measures in the name of democracy and human rights are a useful way to promote democratic governance and the consistent application of the rule of law, and to

protect fundamental human rights, in Cuba or anywhere else. The arguments our volume advances in this regard reflect many of the lessons learned from the largely unsuccessful and in some cases counterproductive policies that Dr. Fisk and his associates have counseled for decades.

Far from arguing that the United States should “ acquiesce in the demise” of Latin American democracy, as Fisk charges, our volume provides a clear guide to

The arguments our volume advances reflect lessons learned from the largely unsuccessful policies that Dr. Fisk and his associates have counseled for decades.

how the new Barack Obama administration could help strengthen democratic currents in the Americas: by rigorously disaggregating the region and understanding its diverse dynamics; favoring respectful inter-American cooperation with key countries and subregions on shared problems and opportunities; concentrating on strengthening cooperation with Mexico, and with Central America and the Caribbean; building a strategic alliance with Brazil; employing multilateral approaches wherever practical and supporting regional institutions; taking responsibility for the domestic U.S. sources of some important regional difficulties; eschewing overblown rhetoric and concentrating on concrete programs; building domestic coalitions to support expanded trade and sustainable immigration reform; supporting local efforts to strengthen democratic governance with patient, nuanced and mainly multilateral approaches; and moving carefully to build a mutually respectful relationship with Cuba, looking toward eventual rapprochement without abandoning or diluting U.S.