Convey a positive vision for Latin America

President Obama’s first extended tour through Latin America comes not a moment too soon. There’s nothing like a personal visit by the president to showcase U.S.-Latin American relations and disarm critics who feel the president has neglected the region. To make this visit count, the president must speak to the region’s concerns and anxieties.

Brazil, his first stop, has been labeled “the country of the future” for so long that many came to believe its day would never come. Today, the future is here. Brazil, thanks to its size and economic success, is rightly recognized as a major emerging democracy with a bigger role to play in world affairs.

For Brazilians, this means a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council. Brazil argues that if the United Nations is to remain effective, its structure must reflect present world realities. If Obama cannot endorse this bid now, he should, at minimum, make it clear that he understands this incontestable logic and Brazil’s hopes. The United States would win plaudits around the region by supporting a permanent seat on the Security Council for a major Latin American country like Brazil.

Brazil’s new president, Dilma Rousseff, seems prepared to reset the clock on U.S.-Brazil relations, which should help make this visit a success. Significant differences remains on issues like Iran, where Obama must stand firm. The quixotic policy of cozying up to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (or dictators like Cuba’s Raul Castro) undermines Brazil’s effort to burnish its diplomatic credentials.

There are two critical areas that Obama must deal with if this visit is to be a success: trade and immigration ― paramount issues for South Florida. His hands are tied as long as Congress insists on protective quotas and high tariffs for agricultural products and Brazilian ethanol. But there’s no reason to wait any longer for approval of the free trade agreements with Panama and ― especially ― Colombia, our Andean ally.

While Latin America reaches out for trade with Asia and the European Union, Washington dawdles. The region is waiting to see if the United States knows who its friends are and rewards them.

The issue is caught up in domestic politics involving labor unions and tea party protectionist interests, but as the leader of the Democratic Party, Obama must convince his congressional allies to move ahead now, especially on trade deals that will create U.S. jobs. South Florida is on the winning end of that equation.

Unfortunately, the politics of immigration make it a much tougher issue. A quick resolution is unlikely. Still, Obama can use his executive power to diminish deportations for non-criminals and otherwise ease the strain of this irritant in relations.

A good place to make an unequivocal commitment to improve the U.S. immigration system would be at Obama’s last stop, El Salvador, which has 200,000 citizens under temporary protected status here. They should stay.

A big part of the president’s overall message must be the recognition of the region’s dramatic transformation. Stable economies and consolidated democratic institutions are replacing outdated political and economic models.

That’s one reason Obama will visit Chile, which enjoys a successful economic model and where moderate-left governments were replaced by today’s moderate-right government. It’s a paradigm of progress.

The most important message that Obama can deliver is that he understands the region’s aspirations and has a positive vision for U.S.-Latin American relations, much as he did for the Middle East and Islam with his speech in Cairo. This is no longer your grandfather’s Latin America. Obama must make clear that he gets it.

(The Miami Herald, March 21)