WHAT’S AT STAKE
Decades of remarkable progress in Latin America toward security, democracy, and increased economic ties with America are currently under threat. Venezuela and Cuba are leading a virulently anti-American “Bolivarian” movement across Latin America that seeks to undermine institutions of democratic governance and economic opportunity. The Bolivarian movement threatens U.S. allies such as Colombia, has interfered with regional cooperation on key issues such as illicit drugs and counterterrorism, has provided safe haven for drug traffickers, has encouraged regional terrorist organizations, and has even invited Iran and foreign terrorist organizations like Hezbollah into the region. The region is also witnessing an epidemic of violent criminal gangs and drug cartels, which have wrought death and mayhem across much of Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean.
OBAMA’S FAILURE
President Obama has done little to reverse these disturbing trends and has to some degree exacerbated them. He has neglected our democratic allies in the region while reaching out to those nations that are working against our interests and values. He has squandered valuable time in which to advance free-market principles throughout the region by waiting for three years to present free trade agreements with our allies Colombia and Panama to Congress for ratification. He has relaxed sanctions on Cuba while demanding no reforms in return that would offer the Cuban people their long-denied freedom. He has allowed the march of authoritarianism to go unchecked. In some cases, he has actually encouraged it, as when he publicly backed former Honduran president Manuel Zelaya — a Hugo Chavez ally — despite Zelaya’s unconstitutional attempt to extend his term as president in defiance of the Honduran supreme court and legislature.
MITT’S PLAN
Mitt Romney will chart a different course. Under a Romney administration, the United States will pursue an active role in Latin America by supporting democratic allies and market-based economic relationships, containing destabilizing internal forces such as criminal gangs and terrorists, and opposing destabilizing outside influences such as Iran.
In his first 100 days in office, Mitt will launch a vigorous public diplomacy and trade promotion effort in the region — the Campaign for Economic Opportunity in Latin America (CEOLA) — to extol the virtues of democracy and free trade and build on the benefits conferred by the free trade agreements reached with Panama and Colombia, as well as those already in force with Chile, Mexico, Peru, and the members of the Central American Free Trade Agreement. Through old and new media and through numerous public events conducted in conjunction with our regional partners, CEOLA will draw a stark contrast between free enterprise and the ills of the authoritarian socialist model offered by Cuba and Venezuela. The campaign will also seek to involve both the U.S. and Latin American private sectors in efforts to expand trade throughout the region with initiatives that not only help American companies do business in Latin America, but also help Latin American companies invest and create jobs in the American market. The goal of CEOLA will be to set the stage for eventual membership in the Reagan Economic Zone for nations throughout Latin America and the creation of strong and mutually beneficial economic ties between the region and the United States.
Mitt will build on separate existing anti-drug and counterterrorism initiatives to form a unified Hemispheric Joint Task Force on Crime and Terrorism. The aim of this group will be to coordinate intelligence and enforcement among all regional allies. Coordinated strategies are required to combat regional terrorist groups and criminal networks that operate across borders. And a regional effort is required as well to sever all financial, logistical, and material connections between regional groups and foreign terrorist entities like Hezbollah that are operating in the region.
Mexico and the United States must take immediate action on the problem of violent drug cartels operating across our shared border, which has already inflicted great costs to both our countries in human life, drug addiction, and social decay. The United States and Mexico currently cooperate through the Merida Initiative, a program run by the U.S. Department of State to improve Mexico’s law enforcement capabilities. However, in light of the severity of the cartel problem and the sheer firepower and sophistication of the criminal networks we are facing, the United States and Mexico should explore the need for enhanced military-to-military training cooperation and intelligence sharing similar to practices that were successful in combating cartels and narco-terrorist networks in Colombia. Mitt will use the full powers of the presidency to complete an impermeable border fence protecting our southern frontier from infiltration by illegal migrants, trans-national criminal networks, and terrorists.
Saturday, Sep 15, 2007
Boston, MA – Governor Mitt Romney issued the following statement today regarding the Independence Days of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua:
"Today, we express our best wishes to the people of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua on their Independence Day. We also celebrate the many contributions these communities make in the United States each day by upholding our mutual values and enriching our culture.
"During my business career, I had the privilege of working with several talented partners of Latin American descent, including Ricardo Poma and Miguel Dueñas. I learned from these friends about their own families' suffering and the agonizing pain of tyranny throughout Central America.
"In recent years, we have seen dramatic progress in this region which was torn apart by civil wars and strife in the 1980s. As democracy and free markets have taken root, their people have been empowered to build more stable societies. Central Americans are right to expect their leaders to continue governing democratically and to reject the populist solutions that have failed them in the past. The United States must continue to support these countries' efforts to generate economic opportunities for their people, and we must work to ensure the Central American Free Trade Agreement is fully implemented. We must also cooperate to boost security in the region at a time when international gang violence and drug trafficking are threatening the gains that have been made.
"On this day, we also acknowledge these nations and their people for continued cooperation in the global fight against terrorists and radical jihad, including El Salvador's commitment to bring greater peace to the Iraqi people. We need to continue to build stronger alliances with our neighbors to together confront these and other threats."
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Strengthening Latin American Allies and Confronting Tyrants
It is time for the United States to adopt a Latin American strategy that will strengthen human rights and freedom, stand by our friends and allies, advance our own interests, and weaken the threat of the Castro regime, Chavez, and any other dictator with the intent of taking away the freedom of people.
CHALLENGE: In two years, we will note a sobering occasion – a half century will have passed since darkness descended 90 miles to our south, and a despotic reign fell over the proud people of Cuba.
The Castros have a new tyrant to work with and he has great wealth, from oil. We must stand just as firm against tyrants like Hugo Chavez, tutored by Fidel Castro. His methodical assault on democratic institutions and his people's freedom is an insult to democracy itself. We should all be particularly troubled by the government’s hostility towards a free press and actions to take Radio Caracas Television off the air. In addition, developments in Bolivia and elsewhere show the potential of Chavez's malignant form of tyranny to spread to other countries.
GOVERNOR ROMNEY: "There are two spheres of influence in the Western Hemisphere. One is dark, bellicose and spreads misery by denying people basic freedoms; the other shines like a powerful light, is peaceful and wants only for its people to live in liberty and prosper." (Governor Mitt Romney, Remarks At The Miami-Dade Lincoln Day Dinner, 3/9/2007)
The Romney Plan: It is time for the United States to adopt a Latin American strategy that will strengthen human rights and freedom, that will stand by our friends and allies, that will advance our own interests, and that will weaken the threat of the Castro regime, Chavez, and any other dictator with the intent of taking away the freedom of people.
Continue To Isolate Castro With Economic And Diplomatic Sanctions. America will never back down to the Castro brothers. There will be no accommodation, no appeasement. There will be no end to our insistence that political prisoners are set free, and that Cubans themselves are finally given the privileges that today are enjoyed only by Castro’s cronies, and by foreign tourists. After 50 years, with so much suffering, so much sacrifice, we will not relent until the day when the Castro brothers meet their ignominious end and their history is written among the world’s most reviled despots, tyrants and frauds.
Help Our Friends. Foreign aid and foreign investments must be focused on those who stand alongside us. In spite of great progress over the last few decades, tens of millions in the Western Hemisphere still live in poverty. United States aid and investment programs promote transparency and the economic and political reforms needed to spur development.
Act To Inform Public Opinion In Latin America. We should use our world renowned media and communications savvy to spread the truth about American freedom, and Castro tyranny. New strong-men ('caudillos') must not reverse the Hemisphere's hard fought economic and political freedoms. The United States and our partners in the region must continue to reject the policies of leaders such as Venezuela's Hugo Chavez that move to consolidate power, limit dissent and revert to failed socialist policies.
Improve Our Economic Ties. The President has negotiated vital free trade agreements with Latin American neighbors like Peru, Colombia and Panama, but some Democrats in Congress are so beholden to their labor bosses, that they have refused to pass them. It is time to put the interests of humanity and of the nation first.
Rebuild Relationships Of Respect And Trust And Friendship. Our Latin American friends must always feel welcome in the White House.
Solve The Problem Of Illegal Immigration By Securing The Border And Reaffirm Our Appreciation Of Legal Immigration. We are a nation of immigrants, and they have contributed a great deal to our culture of hard work, entrepreneurship, faith in God, love of family, and respect for human life.
Never Ignore Latin America. It is a great deal easier to prevent a crisis than to solve one. Since the end of the Cold War and since the terror of 9/11, America has become so preoccupied with other regions that we have forgotten our friends in our own Hemisphere. We need robust cooperation to expand opportunities in the Hemisphere and address common threats such as drug trafficking and terrorism.
GOVERNOR ROMNEY: "Through the Internet, TV, Radio Marti and other Miami radio stations that broadcast into Cuba we know that word of news and events here in the U.S. gets back to Cuba. To this daily flow of truth I would like to add my message to your own. America will never back down to the Castro brothers. There will be no accommodation, no appeasement. There will be no end to our insistence that political prisoners are set free, and that Cubans themselves are finally given the privileges that today are enjoyed only by Castro's cronies, and by foreign tourists." (Governor Mitt Romney, Remarks At The Miami-Dade Lincoln Day Dinner, 3/9/2007)
GOVERNOR ROMNEY: "These are troubling times in Venezuela, as Hugo Chavez continues his methodical assault on democratic institutions and his people’s freedom. I am particularly troubled by the government's hostility towards a free press and recent actions to take Radio Caracas Television off the air. There should be no doubt that the United States stands with those men and women of good will who step up to secure their God-given liberty – in Venezuela and throughout the Americas. The future of freedom and democracy in our Hemisphere also requires the friends of freedom in Latin America to speak clearly and forcefully to defend liberty, democracy and human rights." (Governor Mitt Romney, Statement On Venezuela's Independence Day, 7/05/2007)
GOVERNOR ROMNEY: "It is time for the United States to adopt a Latin American strategy that will strengthen human rights and freedom, that will advance our own interests, and that will weaken the threat of the Castros and Chavez." (Governor Mitt Romney, Statement On Venezuela's Independence Day, 7/05/2007)
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