Pubdate: Fri, 13 Apr 2012
Source: Houston Chronicle (TX)
Copyright: 2012 Houston Chronicle Publishing Company Division, Hearst Newspaper
Contact:  http://www.chron.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/198
Author: Dudley Althaus

LEGALIZE DRUGS? OBAMA ADMINISTRATION FLATLY SAYS NO

MEXICO CITY - The leaders of the Americas meet with President Brack
Obama in Colombia over the weekend where he is expected to hang tough
on Washington's anti-narcotics and Cuba policies, positions ever-more
unpopular in a region drifting away from U.S. dominance.

Obama flies into the Colombian beach resort city of Cartagena on
Friday for the 48-hour Summit of the Americas, a gathering of all but
two of the region's 35 national leaders. Cuban President Raul Castro
wasn't invited, and Ecuador's Rafael Correo is staying home to protest
the snub.

The talks will include economic cooperation, coordinated disaster
relief, Cuba's diplomatic isolation and perhaps, most heatedly, the
hyper-violent Latin American narcotics gangs largely enriched by
American consumers.

The drug trade helps to finance insurgencies in Colombia and Peru,
enriches rampaging gangs in Central America and Mexico, and lines the
pockets of corrupt officials everywhere.

"Obama is well-liked and the U.S. enjoys a more positive image in
Latin America than it did a few years ago," said Michael Shifter,
president of the Inter American Dialogue, a Washington think tank.
"But in the region there is a sense of disappointment that more
progress has not been made on a shared agenda."

Stalwart drug policy

A growing faction of regional leaders - including Guatemala's new
conservative president and Mexico's outgoing Felipe Calderon - has
broached decriminalizing narcotics in order to sap the gangsters'
illicit income and the corruption it spawns.

But Obama, facing what could be a tough re-election campaign and
ongoing culture wars at home, isn't having any of it.

"U.S. policy on this is very clear. The president doesn't support
decriminalization," Dan Restrepo, Obama's senior adviser for
hemispheric affairs, told reporters in a conference call to discuss
the summit. "He does think this is a legitimate debate.

"There is no magic bullet," Restrepo said, referring to hopes that
narcotics legalization would end the bloodshed. "We need to ensure
that we're doing everything we can to build the kinds of rule of law
institutions necessary to defeat these transnational criminal
organizations."

Turning to the U.S.-led snubbing of Cuba, Restrepo said the
communist-ruled island only can win a place at the summit by
installing full democracy and other freedoms.

"But fundamentally today, Cuban authorities continue to deny the Cuban
people their universal rights," Restrepo said. "And the president will
continue to stand up for those rights and encourage others to do so as
well."

Nearly all other countries in the hemisphere have economic and
diplomatic ties with Cuba. Pointedly visiting Havana en route to
Cartagena, Mexico's Calderon on Thursday condemned the 51-year U.S.
economic blockade of the island as "unjustified."

Waning U.S. influence

Held every three years, the Americas Summit rarely produces more than
a group photo of the leaders and bland statements of goodwill and
cooperation. Recent meetings have been more raucous as populist
leaders like Venezuela's Hugo Chavez have publicly confronted U.S.
presidents.

Now, booming exports of grains, copper, iron ore and oil, particularly
to China, has enriched many South American economies. That income, and
investment from China and elsewhere, has sapped U.S. influence as
Washington focuses elsewhere, experts warn.

"The U.S. is consumed by domestic problems and other foreign policy
priorities, and much of Latin America is more confident and connected
globally than ever before," Shifter, of the Inter America Dialogue,
said. "While relations remain cordial, the U.S. and Latin America are
increasingly going their separate ways."
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