U.S. Faces Rising Resistance to Its Latin American Policy

From The Wall Street Journal:

The U.S., which once considered Latin America its own backyard, is having an increasingly tough time calling the shots in a region where countries like Brazil and China are vying for influence, and where even tiny Honduras stands up to the "Colossus to the North."

While the U.S. remains the dominant player in Latin America, its clout is curtailed by several factors, including Brazil's rise as a regional power, the influence of a clique of anti-American nations led by oil-rich Venezuela, and the growing muscle of China, which sees Latin American resources as key to its own economic growth.

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My Comment: Latin America has changed completely in the past 25 years. The big players are still countries like Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico .... but it is the smaller countries like Venezuela, Chile, and Colombia that are changing the political dynamics of the continent.

Will this trend continue ... probably not. The drug wars are tearing apart countries like Mexico and Colombia. Venezuela's socialism is only helping to destroy what is left of it's free market system, and Argentina is still a pariah on the international scene because of its inability (or unwillingness) to pay off its debts.

The country that has the potential to be a game changer is Brazil. It is rapidly becoming the regional super power in the region, helped because it has the population/resource base to exert pressure on any of its neighbors, and its political class has the will and determination to chart an independent course. Will they be successful in accomplishing this .... only time will tell.