A gentler touch with Latin America

The Bush administration is taking a more cooperative and less ideological approach to Latin America, a departure from the earlier confrontational stance that accompanied a waning of US influence in the region.

This week Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick is in the region - pressing for a democratic solution to political turmoil in Nicaragua and taking up trade and economic issues with Brazil, South America's powerhouse. It's the kind of low-key but vital attention, experts say, that was lacking in the first Bush term.

Perhaps more important, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has signaled a change of course by nominating career diplomat (and former National Security Council colleague) Tom Shannon as assistant secretary for western hemisphere affairs. If confirmed by the Senate, Mr. Shannon would succeed two controversial assistant secretaries, Otto Reich and Roger Noriega. Both were better known for antagonism toward certain regimes - Fidel Castro's in Cuba and Hugo Chávez's in Venezuela, in particular - than for working with the region.

The shift reflects a turn toward diplomacy in the Bush foreign policy in general. It is welcome in a region that had resisted what it saw as a meddlesome, "with-us-or-against-us" US foreign policy. But it is also viewed, some experts say, as a bit of catch-up now that many Latin American countries are looking elsewhere - as never before - for economic and political ties.

"We're seeing signals of a shift, in particular away from a foreign policy that was seen throughout Latin America as dominated by people obsessed by an ideological battle with Cuba," says Arturo Valenzuela, director of the Center for Latin American Studies at Georgetown University in Washington and a Clinton administration diplomat. "If [the Bush administration] is more engaged and doesn't just try to dictate, they can begin to mend fences. But there's quite a bit of mending to do."

Others say the administration has not altered its basic approach to the region. Rather, it is paying closer attention and visiting more because crucial political junctures lie ahead, such as presidential elections in Mexico next year, and because worrisome political trends need to be addressed. "I have seen ramped-up attention ... as not so much a shift of direction as a reflection of the political realities in Latin America," says Brian Dean, a specialist in Latin America for the International Republican Institute (IRI).

While in Nicaragua, Mr. Zoellick sought to shore up President Enrique Bolaños, who is under siege from what the US calls a "corrupt pact" formed by two former presidents, Daniel Ortega and Arnoldo Alemán. Mr. Ortega's Sandinistas control the judiciary, while Mr. Alemán's forces control the legislature. The US, concerned that Mr. Bolaños is indeed a victim of what he calls a "rolling coup d'état," is threatening to withhold much-needed economic aid. But Zoellick, whose trip ended Wednesday, may have found it difficult to wield much influence: In Nicaragua, US pressure conjures mixed and often extreme reactions.

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