Against the backdrop of a continent lurching to the political left, US president George W. Bush's new administration will redouble its efforts to bring its "freedom agenda" to Latin America, says a senior state department official, in an interview with Emerging Markets.
Roger Noriega, head of western hemisphere affairs, says that although a perception of neglect may have dogged US policy on Latin America in recent years - especially following the September 11 attacks and subsequent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq - this is about to change.
"You'll see our vision, the president's vision, laid out in very clear terms this year. His freedom agenda will be aimed at building up in the Americas a hemisphere where governments are not only democratic but where people are genuinely free," he says.
Latin America, says Noriega, has now become a more urgent priority for the Bush administration, in part because crises in recent years have shown up the weaknesses of institutions "to ensure transparency and to ensure that peoples' voices are heard through democratic institutions."
"This is an hour when the Americas need significant attention and need to start delivering on the promise of democracy to find ways to strengthen the state, to strengthen democratic institutions, and to head off crises in the future," he says. What's driving the administration's renewed efforts in Latin America is "a sense that the region, if it does not run, it will fall behind [the rest of the developing world]."
Noriega's comments follow Condoleezza Rice's trip to Mexico last month, her first to the region as US secretary of state. His remarks also come as Latin America gears up for a dozen elections over the next 18 months. Recently, leaders on the left of the political spectrum have won the backing of voters in key countries, including Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina.
"We'll be doing what we can to make sure we have a coherent vision and that countries do move along on this reform agenda," says Noriega, who replaced Otto Reich in 2003 as the state department's top man for Latin America.
Noriega is renowned within the Republican administration for holding hardline views. He served previously as an aide to Senator Jess Helms, and has been a charismatic supporter for the democratic overthrow of Cuban leader Fidel Castro. He has also hailed the ousting of Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
If there is a cause for concern over the political shift to the left in Latin America, it is historical, says Noriega. "The anxiety comes from a history that suggests that leftist means populist, irresponsible policies and an ideological hostility to the US." He adds, however, that this has not been the case in Latin countries that have turned to the left recently. "These aren't leftist dictatorships that are going to hold onto power in spite of the people."
The one exception is Venezuela, says Noriega. Tensions between the US and the Venezuela have heated up in recent months, especially over concerns the latter is aiding insurgents in neighbouring Colombia.
Noriega said recently that the US government "will support democratic elements in Venezuela so they can fill the political space to which they are entitled" although he did not specify at the time what form this support would take. However he told Emerging Markets that the administration is not overtly backing regime change in the oil-rich Andean nation, although he refused to be drawn on what a further deterioration
of relations might imply for both countries.