| | |  Americas & Beyond | April 2009 
Economy, Security High on Americas Summit Agenda
 Reuters
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U.S. President Barack Obama makes his first official visit to Latin America this week, visiting Mexico on Thursday and then traveling on to Trinidad and Tobago for the Fifth Summit of the Americas.
Following are issues likely to come up during the visits:
• ECONOMIC CRISIS - The global recession is expected to be the top issue at the summit. Analysts say prudent economic policies adopted by many Latin American countries have helped them weather the recession better than in previous decades, but officials say a drop of 1 percent in the region's gross domestic product could send 15 million people back into extreme poverty. The G20 summit approved a $1 trillion package of funding to help developing countries, with Latin America a leading beneficiaries.
• SECURITY - Increasing violence in Mexico as part of the country's war on drugs has sparked concern in the United States. The Obama administration has beefed up security along the border and to stem the flow of illegal arms southward and reduce demand for drugs. But security concerns, including crime fueled by the downturn in the economy and drug trade elsewhere in the region, are widespread. The summit draft declaration has a section on strengthening public security.
• IMMIGRATION - Some 12 million illegal immigrants live in the United States, mostly from Mexico and Central America. Efforts to reform the system, granting some immigrants the right to stay while requiring others return home and apply for reentry, failed in 2006 and 2007. Obama promised to work for immigration reform during the campaign. Recent reports indicated he intends to begin a debate on immigration reform this year. Mexican Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan says Mexico has to do its part as well, improving the economy to encourage more workers stay home.
• ILLEGAL DRUGS - A Justice Department report last year said Mexican drug traffickers pose the biggest organized crime threat in the United States. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Mexico last month and acknowledged an "insatiable" U.S. appetite for drugs was to blame for much of the problem. Analysts say the admission helped establish the administration's credibility with Mexico on the issue. Obama's choice of former Seattle police chief Gil Kerlikowske as drug czar signaled an emphasis on treatment and prevention to reduce drug demand.
• CUBA - The United States has maintained its Cuba embargo for nearly 50 years, even as other countries establish ties with the communist state. Exclusion of the impoverished Caribbean country from the Organization of American States and other multilateral institutions has become a cause for many Latin American countries. Obama has indicated a willingness to ease restrictions on travel by Cuban Americans, but many analysts say that is not enough.
• WEAPONS TRAFFICKING - U.S. weapons smuggling into Mexico is helping to fuel the violence there. Analysts say Washington could push for ratification of the Inter-American Convention against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives and Other Related Materials. The convention, known by the Spanish acronym CIFTA, has been languishing in the Senate since it was adopted in 1997, analysts said.
• CROSS-BORDER TRUCKING - Washington agreed in NAFTA to allow Mexican trucks on U.S. roads. But a spending bill passed by Congress and signed by Obama eliminated funding for the program that had begun permitting a small number of Mexicans to deliver loads in the U.S. Mexico then imposed higher tariffs on $2.4 billion in U.S. goods. The administration is trying to work out an alternative agreement with Congress to allow trucking to resume.
(Editing by Philip Barbara) |
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