The debate in Latin America over whether it was a mistake for President Obama to show such warmth to Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez shows no signs of abating.
Roberto Olivares of Colombia’s El Tiempo, as though he were a loyal member of the Bush Administration, berates President Obama for diminishing himself and his country.
“Perhaps a simple handshake to demonstrate some class, a bit of elegance, and a renewed and refreshing diplomatic modernism would not have been too much. But from there, to ingratiate themselves, joke around, gave one another slaps on the back and offer smiles left and right – I think it was a naive and enormous mistake in terms of the foreign policy concerns of the Americans.
“As far as U.S. foreign policy is concerned, Mister Obama’s recent actions are very disturbing. He bows before the king of Saudi Arabia, he apologizes to Europeans for the errors of the North American government that preceded him, he insists on negotiating with genocidal autocrats the likes of Castro, Ahmadinejad, Mugabe, Chávez, etc. It seems that Obama is not the friend we thought and that he hasn’t realized that he embodies the most powerful country in the world: a symbol of justice, liberty, peace, and prosperity. Obama should remember that the presidency of the United States isn’t made for just one man. It’s a long-standing institution that owes everything to people who have shed their own blood on every corner of the planet for years on end, confronting characters precisely like Chávez and Castro.”
By Roberto Olivares
Translated By Liz Essary
April 28, 2009
Colombia – El Tiempo – Original Article (Spanish)
Of the various informal encounters between Barack Obama and Hugo Chávez during the last Summit of the Americas, certainly the most controversial and offensive to democratic Venezuela – and all lovers of justice and liberty – was the first. For more than eight years, Chávez has been beseeching the demons through his Cuban high priests for a photo opportunity in any corner of the world with the President of the United States. Just one photo was all that his personality longed for. Well, his wishes were fully granted due to the lack of diplomatic experience on the part of Barack Obama, the new “pal” of Hugo Chávez. The newly-minted President of the United States is directly responsible for the new “democratic legitimacy” that Chávez now enjoys.
READ ON AT WORLDMEETS.US, your most trusted translator and aggregator of foreign news and views about our nation.
