Crowded Agenda Awaits Clinton
In Latin America
(AP) Secretary of State Hillary Rodham
Clinton travels to Latin America and the
Caribbean with a crowded agenda awaiting:
lingering tensions over last year's coup in
Honduras, U.S. immigration policy, security
issues and concerns over Iran and the Middle
East.
Clinton departed Sunday on her seventh trip
to the region as the top U.S. diplomat, with
a schedule that included an Organization of
American States meeting in Peru as well as
later stops in Ecuador, Colombia and
Barbados.
At all points, officials say, she will
stress the Obama administration's commitment
to the Western Hemisphere and support for
democracy.
The most contentious topic facing the OAS —
whether to readmit Honduras to the regional
bloc — isn't on the agenda at Monday's
annual OAS General Assembly in Lima. But it
will loom large over the discussions, with
the U.S. at odds with numerous other member
countries on the matter.
The U.S. wants Honduras allowed back into
the organization following elections that
brought the current president, Porfirio
Lobo, to power after the June 2009 coup that
ousted his predecessor, Manuel Zelaya. Other
governments, notably Brazil, Venezuela and
Nicaragua, are opposed and insist that
Zelaya be allowed to return home first.
"President Lobo has done everything he has
said he would do," Clinton told reporters
Sunday. "He has been very committed to
pursuing a policy of reintegration."
Arturo Valenzuela, assistant secretary of
state for Western Hemisphere affairs,
acknowledged Friday that "there are
continuing concerns over human rights
violations in Honduras and that certain
steps still need to be taken in order to
bring about a process of national
reconciliation."
Also of great concern in Latin America is
Arizona's new immigration law, which some
believe will lead to racial profiling. While
this, too, is not on the formal agenda,
Clinton probably will get an earful about it
from her colleagues even though President
Barack Obama has said the law is "poorly
conceived" and "not the right way to go."
The law requires that police conducting
traffic stops or questioning people about
possible legal violations ask them about
their immigration status if there is
"reasonable suspicion" that they're in the
United States illegally. Reasonable
suspicion is not defined.
The law, which takes effect July 29 unless
blocked by a court as requested under
pending legal challenges, also makes it a
state crime to be in the U.S. illegally or
to impede traffic while hiring day laborers,
regardless of the worker's immigration
status. It would become a crime for illegal
immigrants to solicit work.
OAS Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza
has called the law "an issue of concern to
all citizens of the Americas, beginning with
the citizens of the United States." Other
nations have complained loudly about it.
In separate talks on the sidelines of the
Lima meeting, Clinton is expected to press
for support for new U.N. penalties against
Iran over its nuclear program. Brazil
recently worked with Turkey to broker an
agreement with Iran that would avert fresh
penalties.
Brazil, which opposes U.N. penalties against
Iran, is an elected member of the U.N.
Security Council, where the U.S. hopes to
bring a fourth sanctions resolution to a
vote in the coming days.
From Peru, Clinton travels to Ecuador for
talks with President Rafael Correa and to
deliver a speech outlining the
administration's broad policy toward the
region, which has a heavy emphasis on
fighting the narcotics trade.
On Sunday, Clinton mentioned the situation
in Jamaica, where bloody street battles
erupted last month as authorities searched
for a reputed drug lord. "Even countries
with stable political systems and trained
police forces and military assets can be
facing tremendous challenges from these
well-organized drug traffickers," she said.
In Colombia, a major ally that had been the
recipient of massive U.S. aid to combat drug
trafficking, she will see the departing
president, Alvaro Uribe.
She plans to meet with the two candidates to
succeed Uribe: former defense minister Juan
Manuel Santos, who helped craft the current
president's popular security policies, and
rival Antanas Mockus, the ex-two-time mayor
of Bogota who has promised clean government
and a tax increase. The candidates are in a
June 20 runoff election.
Clinton will close out the trip in
Bridgetown, Barbados, where she will see
foreign ministers from Caribbean island
nations to discuss endemic crime, violence
and narco-trafficking.
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