It is not going to get any easier for the next president of the United States. Regardless of the winner of the 2008 election, that is right now a little over a few days away, John McCain or Barrack Obama will have to put the growing problems facing Central and South America under the spotlight of American interests again.

Basic survival of a nation would have to be centered around it’s immediate neighbors and in our case the America’s. Rather it be North America, Central America, or South America our next leader cannot ignore the changes and issues affecting our region. The current status quo will continue to leave America at risk as our closest neighbor to the South, Mexico, is to be quite honest an utter disaster of a state. America is wasting an opportunity to change relations with a new Cuba and it is getting very close to time to put a cage around the “mouth of the South”, Hugo Chavez.

Issue One:  Illegal Immigration

Since the beginning of the new century American focus has been thousands of miles away as a result of the events of 911.  We have fought two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan while operating clandestinely in many others.  As much as we need to continue to apply pressure overseas it is just as important to protect ourselves in our own hemisphere.  At this point thousands of illegal immigrants cross our Southern borders every day and even though many are coming for jobs and opportunities as well as many others that are no longer safe in their homeland there are still others that are coming here to do harm or to participate in illegal activities.  It is reckless to allow anyone to cross our borders without any way of knowing their intentions or being able to know their history.  As paranoid as it sounds it is now a fact of the new America post 911.  We are told that the terrorists still want to plan attacks on the homeland.  We are told that they are determined.  Yet we continue to gamble as current policies and inadequate safeguards allow them to walk right in through our Southern borders with very little resistance.  Coyotes who make a living of smuggling illegal immigrants across the border have stated that foreigners of Arab, Asian, and African descent have sought to employ smugglers to gain illegal entry into America .  If America is serious about stopping the next September 11th, the next president has to put America in control of it’s borders.  It is crucial that we develop a plan that allows immigrants to enter  America in an orderly and accountable way.  America has grown dependent upon this labor force and at one point was a beacon of freedom and hope for people around the world.  This can still be the case, but modern times calls for Big Brother to know who is within our country. 

Issue Two:  Growing Russia, China, and Iranian Presence In The West.   Re-emergence of Leftist Governments.

Russia is re-emerging on the world stage as a global power being fueled by petrol dollars.  The former Soviet Union break up was more than just a defeat for Russia, but rather a humiliation that still burns inside the hearts and minds of the Kremlin.  After testing the world with their onslaught against the democratically elected Republic of Georgia, Russia is now extending it’s presence on a global sphere.  Russia has been selling arms to Venezuela and is rekindling old ties with former Cold War partner Cuba. In a matter of weeks, a Russian naval squadron will arrive in the waters off Latin America for the first time since the Cold War. It is already getting a warm welcome from some in a region where the influence of the United States is in decline.  “The U.S. Fourth Fleet can come to Latin America but a Russian fleet can’t?” said Ecuador’s president, Rafael Correa. “If you ask me, any country and any fleet that wants can visit us. We’re a country of open doors.”  The United States remains the strongest outside power in Latin America by most measures, including trade, military cooperation and the sheer size of its embassies. Yet U.S. clout in what it once considered its backyard has sunk to perhaps the lowest point in decades. As Washington turned its attention to the Middle East, Latin America swung to the left and other powers moved in.

The United States’ financial crisis is not helping. Latin American countries forced by Washington to swallow painful austerity measures in the 1980s and 1990s are aghast at the U.S. failure to police its own markets. “We did our homework — and they didn’t, they who’ve been telling us for three decades what to do,” the man who presides over Latin America’s largest economy, President Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva of Brazil, complained bitterly.  Latin America’s more than 550 million people now “have every reason to view the U.S. as a banana republic,” says analyst Michael Shifter of the Inter-American Dialogue think tank in Washington. “U.S. lectures to Latin Americans about excess greed and lack of accountability have long rung hollow, but today they sound even more ridiculous.”  In the past three years of presidential elections, Latin Americans chose mostly leftist leaders, and only Colombia and El Salvador elected pro-U.S. leaders. In May, the prestigious U.S. Council on Foreign Relations declared the era of U.S. hegemony in the Americas over. And in September, Bolivia and Venezuela both expelled their U.S. ambassadors, accusing them of meddling.

Trade:  The U.S. still does $560 billion in trade with Latin America, but in the meantime other countries are muscling in. China’s trade with Latin America jumped from $10 billion in 2000 to $102.6 billion last year. In May, a state-owned Chinese company agreed to buy a Peruvian copper mine for $2.1 billion.  Other countries are also biting into U.S. military sales in the region. Boeing Co. is vying with finalists from France and Sweden for the sale of 36 jet fighters to Brazil. Venezuela’s Chavez has committed to buying more than $4 billion in Russian arms, from Sukhoi jet fighters to Kalashnikov assault rifles. In April, Brazil and Russia agreed to jointly design top-line jet fighters and satellite-launch vehicles, and Brazil is getting technology from France to build a submarine.

New Military Presence:  Last month, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin offered to help Chavez develop nuclear power. Even Colombia, the staunchest U.S. ally in South America, isn’t limiting its options. After expressing alarm about the Russian warships a week ago, its defense minister, Juan Manuel Santos, promptly headed for Russia himself to discuss “better relations in defense.” Chavez says he expects to hold joint Russian-Venezuelan naval exercises as early as November.  Following Venezuela’s lead Bolivia also is looking to deepen ties with Russia and Iran. Although the Islamic republic’s ambassador has yet to arrive in South America’s poorest country, its top diplomat there announced Friday that Iran will open two low-cost public health clinics.
And while Bolivia’s only announced Russian hardware purchase is five helicopters for civil defense, Moscow’s ambassador told the AP — after Bolivia booted the U.S. ambassador — that Russia has every right to help Latin American nations arm themselves.  “We know of many historical cases of U.S. intervention in Latin American countries,” said the diplomat, Leonid Golubev.   Cuba is also answering Russia’s call for building new strength in an old friendship as it is also welcoming Russian military presence and cooperation.  This move could have easily been stopped a year ago.  After Fidel Castro fell ill, the United States wasted an opportunity to work with a much more less dictatorial Raul Castro.  He is far from a democratically elected leader, but showed signs of loosening the cold war grip that his brother Fidel held over the tiny island just eighty miles off the coast of America.  The U.S. should have taken this opportunity to initiate talks and try to guide Cuba to a new path, albeit slowly.  It was in America’s best interests.  Now that Russia and other competitive nations are calling on Cuba the window may already be closed.

End The War on Drugs and Build Stronger Democracies:  It is time for America to quit spending billions of dollars fighting a losing war.  The amount of cocaine, marijuana and other drugs being grown and produced inside other South and Central American countries has not changed the supply level in the United States.  The price and availability of cocaine and marijuana has remained stable in the states despite inflation on all other legal goods.  That is amazing.  There is no better barometer that measures the success of the war on drugs abroad as the street price in America.  The billions of dollars being spent needs to be better utilized to protect the democracies in the hemisphere and to aid the building blocks for possible new democracies away from the growing leftist influence. Thomas Shannon, U.S. assistant secretary of state for the hemisphere, noted that overall U.S. aid to the region will reach $2.2 billion for 2009, to total more than $14 billion during Bush’s presidency  However, critics point out that half that aid is for the military or counter-narcotics, and that Washington sends more money annually to Israel alone. U.S. aid has been less than Hugo Chavez’s checkbook diplomacy, which easily eclipses U.S. aid between outright gifts and discounted oil.   Hugo is spreading influence that has lured several longtime U.S. friends. Honduras’ president, Manuel Zelaya, said last month that after pleading with Washington and the World Bank, he accepted $300 million a year from Chavez for agricultural investment to help fight rising food prices.  “Allies, friends, did not help me when I asked,” he said.the U.S.policies in Latin America comes after a history of welcomed influence dating back to President Franklin Roosevelt’s “Good Neighbor” policy of the 1930s, which emphasized cooperation and trade over military intervention. What has changed is that America has mainly one interest in South America.  The wasteful and ill-ran war on drugs that has spent the majority of it’s money in a dictator led Columbia.  As America continues this policy and with a history of unwanted covert operations many feel America is not interested in helping the people in it’s own hemisphere achieve freedom and democracy.  To stand up to the growing leftist influence in the region is suicide without U.S. support and intervention.  Talk is talk.  It will take action if America is interested in influencing democracy in the region.  The money that is being spoiled on the losing war on drugs policy in the region should be used for goodwill and aid assistance to those seeking to strengthen their democracies and assisting us in the spread of it benefits.  It may already be too late as foreign competition from abroad has begun to flow into the region. This lack of interest in issues so close to home only shows the rest of the world America’s biggest weakness and vulnerabilities. In October 2008,  LIMA, Peru – A leftist governor says he has agreed to become the Peru’s prime minister, a day after the nation’s Cabinet resigned amid a brewing oil kickbacks scandal.  Yehude Simon says he will replace outgoing Jorge del Castillo in the position, which heads the president’s Cabinet.

Costa Rica’s president, Oscar Arias, says Venezuela offers Latin America about four or five times as much money as the United States. Costa Rica has become the 19th member of Petrocaribe, through which Chavez sells Caribbean and Central American nations cut-rate oil at very low interest.  The current negative tide of

The Next President:  With the U.S. facing its own financial crisis, it’s unlikely to be able to assist in economic influence in Latin America anytime soon. Sen. Barack Obama’s senior adviser on Latin America, Dan Restrepo, acknowledges that his candidate is essentially proposing a symbolic shift in style — albeit adding a special White House envoy for the Americas. “Barack doesn’t see the United States as the savior of the Americas, but as a constructive partner,” Restrepo told the AP.  Reich, an adviser to Sen. John McCain who served three Republican presidents in the region, put it even more bluntly.  “No matter who is elected in November, there is not going to be any money for Latin America,” he said. “Latin Americans expecting financial resources, any kind of help from the United States, they are barking up the wrong tree.”  America needs to reconsider this as we are self creating our next “BIG PROBLEM”.  Ignoring the issues of South America is akin to not removing a cancerous cyst.  If caught early enough it can save the patient, if delayed for too long the patient will surely die. America will lose an important region in the globalization process that has evolved directly fed by the Bush administration’s move to globalization as our potential enemies from abroad move once again in our back yard.

Mexico:  Violence, Corruption,  And Falling Apart At The Seems:

To the further dismay of many American’s that just a decade ago would vacation in Mexico’s tourist destinations such as Cancun, Tijuana, and other Mexican visitor hot spots, are now being over ran with violence.  Kidnappings, murder and drug cartel shootouts in the middle of the day are alarming potential tourists.  Mexico in just a little over a decade has gone from tourist haven to a complete narco state replacing the once brutal Columbian drug lords with their own style of murder and drugs.  The situation has grown so dire that the American border with Mexico is at times as dangerous as the Pakistan – Afghanistan border.  The Mexican government is losing control to drug dealers, smugglers and other groups that operate under the control of the drug cartels.  Their politicians are being corrupted by drug money  and/or threats.  Mexico does not have the resources to win this war alone and has proven to be a liability at times due to corruption.  The biggest problem with Mexico is the U.S. unwillingness to control our own border.  The coyotes, human smugglers, have already warned us that they are being approached by potential terrorists to give them safe passage to America.  The drugs sold in America are financing Mexico’ s destruction and creating a security breach in one broad swoop.  The Mexican border with the U.S. needs to be controlled and this will assist both sides.  To continue to ignore the violent over flow into America where Drug Cartels are actually now kidnapping and murdering on American soil shows the problem is growing out of control and America’s porous borders are destabilizing Central America and making it vulnerable to dangerous global groups seeking to do harm to America.  The Question Now should be what will the next America President do about the situation in the region.  To do nothing will create a very costly tomorrow.

Colombia emerged from the former Spanish colony of Gran Colombia in 1830 which consisted of modern day Columbia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Panama. Columbia is an ally of the United States of America despite producing 90% of the cocaine sold on American streets and is also little known fact that it is responsible for 50% of the heroin. This makes you wonder why? Why does the U.S. have such an important relationship with a nation that has created so many problems for our citizens. In the past corruption ran rampant in the government of this beautiful South American gem. Columbia has an incredible and breathtaking geography, bordering the Caribbean Sea, between Panama and Venezuela, and bordering the North Pacific Ocean, between Ecuador and Panama. The Andes range runs from Southwest toward Northeast and is divided in the Columbian Massif into three ranges. The East Centre and West Ranges that result into two deep valleys known as Magdalena and Cauca which follows along the rivers from which their name is derived. The Eastern Range is the largest and is crossed by the Amazon and Orinoco river basins. the land along these rivers are mainly savanna in nature.

As you travel further South into Columbia you enter into the Amazon Rain Forests. Columbia the land of magnificent rivers, tropical beaches, lush rain forests and majestic mountains, almost sounds too good to be true. Almost like paradise

So Why Is Columbia Not Paradise
Columbia for all it’s graces has been in perpetual conflict from within for the better later half of the past century and eight years into the new. During the 1970′ and peaking in the 1990’s cocaine and opium financed anti-government insurgencies and paramilitary groups. Violent drug cartel most notably those of Medellin Cartel controlled by the world famous Pablo Escobar and the Cali Carttel used their new found power to apply political and economic influence over the rest of the region. The cartels would align with violent armed groups throughout the country and corrupted the politics on all levels. Paramilitary groups and anti-government insurgents added more to the violence that led to one of the most deadliest guerrilla attacks ever. An attack on the Palace of Justice in the capital city of Bogota by a guerilla group called AD/M-19 on November 6-7, in 1985, shocked the entire world. The final two day tally of 115 people murdered with 11 of the victims being Supreme Court justices. The governments has tried to work out peace deals with many of the groups and at times, at least temporarily, the violence against troops, government officials and civilians would go into remission. Narco-terrorists assassinated three presidential candidates before Cesar Gaviria Trujillo was elected in 1990. After the death of Medellin cartel leader Pablo Escobar in 1993, violence contributed by his former organization subsided. One Insurgency group in Columbia stands out as a major international dilemma for the government. FARC known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia was established as military muscle and security of the Columbian Communist Party.

For over 40 years this group has incited violence through murders, kidnappings and illegal drug trade. They have killed government officials, kidnapped a presidential candidate and many other international citizens including a group of American contractors. The Americans to this day are being held in the jungles somewhere in Columbia. In March of 2008 reports provided by a released hostage defined the Americans status as still alive alive but suffering from intense anxiety resulting from their captivity and injuries. The three U.S. defense contractors — Marc Gonsalves, Thomas Howes and Keith Stansell — have been held by FARC, for five years after a plane they were flying wrecked on the edge of part of the jungle where the guerilla group operates. Columbia is far from paradise. It is a narco state where kidnapping and murder is a way of life and foreigners are one of the favorite victims for the guerilla groups and drug cartels. The U.S. State Department has issued warning for American citizens of traveling to this diamond in the rough called Columbia.

American Involvement

As cocaine and heroin consumption grew in the United States the drug cartels and anti-government groups were basically being financed by the distribution of the illegal substances in our streets and neighborhoods. Think about this for a second. America develops a large appetite for a substance creating demand for the product. The producers of this substance is becoming richer and better armed militarily than the host country’s government and results in lawlessness, corruption, murder, and kidnapping. This escalates until no-one really knows who is actually really in charge of the government. The result, a narco state is established. Here is where it gets interesting. Once the cocaine makes it to the U.S. especially during the eighties and the nineties street gangs distributed the product to the users. The violence starts all over as gang wars erupt on our streets, most notably California and the rest of the West Coast as well as along the East Coast and eventually to the heartland. Why, because street capitalism is killing your competition rather than doing a Wall Street takeover or putting together a clever advertising campaign to outsell the competition.

In 1998 President Clinton struggled with the relationship America had with Columbia. He felt that the South American government was overly corrupt and was incapable of solving the dilemmas created by the drug trafficking that was so negatively impacting both nations and other nations in the region as well. He was faced with the decision of either committing to help resolve Columbia’s drug trafficking problems or in all reality cut them off under U.N. mandate that Columbia must work toward the objectives set forth by 1988 UN Convention on Drugs. He felt they were failing.

In the end President Clinton determined that the vital national interests of the United States require that U.S. assist the South American government to meet the increasing challenges posed to counter narcotics efforts in Colombia. The President granted Colombia a national interests certification, which allows for broader U.S. engagement with Colombia in the fight against illegal narcotics. During the previous period between 1988-1996, the United States provided close to $800 million in U.S. taxpayer money. This funding supported Colombia’s counter-narcotics efforts, such as arresting drug traffickers, seizing drugs and illegal processing facilities, and eradicating cocoa and opium poppy.

President George Bush has continued to work with the Columbia government and has provided them with military equipment and special forces training in an effort to stabilize the country. In 2001, President Bush expanded the amount of aid by $676 million for the Andean Counter Drug Initiative. Of this appropriation, approximately $380 million was targeted at Colombia. The rest went towards other South American countries covered by the Andean Counter Drug Initiative. The U.S. has pretty much built a formidable force in Columbia. Their military is well trained, well equipped and have had some major success in the war on drugs. One of the largest was the killing of Pablo Escobar in the city of Medellin. He was shot to death by Columbian forces that tracked him using state of the art electronic surveillance. This alleviated at least one of Columbia’s problems. On the down side in 2005 Three decades after Washington declared Colombia the world’s leading producer of cocaine, experts consider U.S.-financed efforts to eradicate illegal drug crops a failure. Although Washington has poured more than $40 billion into anti-drug efforts in Colombia over the past 25 years, this country remains the world champion of cocaine and a major producer of heroin, and drug prices are cheaper than ever on the streets of America. The biggest complaint by opponents of the aid is that Columbia is still not committed to stamping out drugs until they are rid of their anti-government factions including FARC. Until then the fear is that U.S. taxpayers are flipping the bill for a program they didn’t sign up for despite the fact that FARC is listed as a terrorist organization.