Latin America was given little attention during the US presidential election but the region hopes President Barack Obama will look south now and tweak policies on Cuba, immigration and the drug war.
Regional leaders congratulated the Democrat for winning another four-year term, but some were quick to point out that he owed his victory at least in part over Republican Mitt Romney to America’s growing Hispanic population.
Most called for deeper ties, others wanted Obama to focus more on trade and less on the drug war, while some pleaded for a policy change toward Cuba after a decades-long US embargo.
But with 11.5 million immigrants living in the United States illegally, most of them from Latin America, Mexico and other nations have lobbied for years for Washington to ease their path to the American dream.
Though he secured more than two thirds of the Hispanic vote, Obama has disappointed the Latino community by failing to fulfill his promise to enact comprehensive immigration reform.
“Ecuador congratulates President Barack Obama on his victory and asks him to always remember the significant Latino vote,” Ecuador’s Deputy Foreign Minister Marco Albuja said.
Guatemalan President Otto Perez pressed Obama to act on his country’s request to include Guatemalans in the Temporary Protected Status program, which allows migrants from designated countries to legally stay in the United States for a period of time.
“We hope that the next government will follow through on the TPS request and stop the mass deportations,” Perez said, referring to the expulsion of more than 33,000 Guatemalans between January and October.
Obama may still struggle to pass immigration reform after the election returned a divided Congress, with Democrats defending their Senate turf and Republicans keeping a firm grip on the House of Representatives.
Nevertheless, US Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said immigration would be “very high” on his list of priorities despite Republican opposition.
Mexico’s president-elect Enrique Pena Nieto, who takes office on December 1, steered clear of the immigration issue in a congratulatory tweet to Obama, saying he would work with him “for the benefit of our nations.”
But ties have been dominated by a relentless drug war in Mexico that has left 60,000 people dead. Outgoing President Felipe Calderon’s government has received US aid in its fight against cartels.
Pena Nieto’s transition team indicated that it wants the economy to return atop the agenda in the new Mexican president’s six-year term.
The incoming administration wants to “give priority to policies that generate jobs on both sides of the border,” said Emilio Lozoya, the coordinator of foreign relations for the transition team.
With most South American drugs making their way to the United States via Mexico and Central America, several regional leaders have called for a rethink of the anti-trafficking strategy. Some have pushed for drug legalization.
Obama’s last term will give him a chance to be “more open to the debate on a change from the focus on repression of production and sale of drugs,” said Mario Torrico, of Mexico’s Faculty of Political and Social Sciences.
Other Latin American leaders and experts hope to see a radical change in US policy toward Cuba after more than half a century of mutual hostility.
“Obama’s re-election is the least worst thing that could have happened to us,” said Cuban analyst Esteban Morales. “It is generally positive, compared to what would have happened with the other candidate (Romney).”
Bolivian President Evo Morales said Obama should reward Latinos by lifting the decades-old US embargo on Cuba.
“We were told Obama won in the United States, but with the Latin American vote, with the Latino immigrant vote,” the leftist leader said. “Now, how will he pay back the Latino migrants?”
Latin America hopes Obama will turn his gaze south
