CORDOBA, Argentina -- U.S. President George W. Bush's free-falling popularity, his loss of control over Congress, the nagging doubts about the economy and most of all his discredited reputation as a result of the debacle in Iraq all magnify the characteristic weakness of lame-duck American presidents. But, while Latin American governments are all watching the same news about Bush's growing trials and tribulations, their responses to the looming transfer of power in the United States are of three kinds.
The first response can be described as realist: no matter who governs in America, concrete results need to be achieved. Simply put, whoever is U.S. president, his or her program will have priority. But, at the same time, these leaders count on a great degree of continuity in U.S. policy.
This type of thinking underpinned Brazil's agreement to include the issue of biofuels in a joint declaration and subsequent meeting of Bush and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at Camp David. The same can be said of Uruguay's interest in a Free Trade Treaty with the U.S., as it is seeking alternatives outside of the region's Mercosur group, and Bush remains keen on bilateral trade deals. Colombia, whose alliance with the U.S. precedes President Alvaro Uribe, wants to maintain U.S. support at its current levels, and Mexico now must make combating drug trafficking and illegal immigration priorities, in accordance with U.S. policy. Chile and Peru, too, have fallen in line with U.S. priorities by emphasizing their openness to American investment.