Flip through any nationally respected newspaper, and you'll find the same international news day after day. Since - and to a large extent, before - 9/11, the media's coverage of world events has been anything but worldly. Certainly events in Iraq and Afghanistan are of vital importance and should get appropriate coverage. But is there really nothing else to write about? Is the news everywhere else just irrelevant?
You might not know it, but right in our own hemisphere there's this little region called Latin America. Other than the fairly regular Hugo-Chávez-said-something-bad-about-President-Bush sort of article and the occasional piece on Fidel Castro's status - is he dead? Alive? Dead? - few media outlets treat Latin America as if it has any relevance to those of us up north.
Since 9/11, while our eyes are mostly focused elsewhere, a lot has been going on to the south of us. In what have been six critical years for Latin America, we've let Chávez and his cohorts strengthen their grasp on the region. Most embarrassingly, the success of their efforts has had little to do with their own competence or innovation. Instead, just like Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Chávez has gained most of his support on a simple (but effective) anti-America platform. He's presented himself as the best alternative to the United States, and, in this regard at least, he's been tremendously successful. As the region's most prominent leader, he's helped push other countries - namely Bolivia and Ecuador - toward his side, swinging the pendulum further away from us.
While we've been busy fighting Al Qaeda, Chávez has helped put Latin America on a very different path from the one that most American policymakers would favor. Beyond the relatively recent elections of leaders of similar political ideology in the two aforementioned South American countries, he has become the most high-profile spokesman for Latin America. For example, his efforts to unify the region under a single Bank of the South are at the core of his plans to strengthen and separate Latin America from the United States' influence. Given the vast expansion of Chávez's influence, the U.S. is now faced with the difficult task of attempting to regain a number of critical allies.
While the case can (and should be) made that we must prioritize where we put our efforts, the question remains - how skewed should that prioritization be? After 9/11, Chávez was just beginning his campaign to redefine Latin America's relationship with the United States, and, for the most part, we let him do that. Now, six years after the fact, Latin America has changed drastically, and it is imperative that we wake up to the potential threats (or, if we take appropriate action, benefits) that exist within Latin America.
Whether it's in Baltimore or an entire hemisphere, it's never good to have neighbors who hope for your downfall. This goes way beyond Chávez or Castro. The combination of what many Latin American critics believe to be an unjustified war in Iraq and the general negligence on the part of the United States has given many Latin American leaders - and, for that matter, ordinary citizens - the impression that we couldn't care less what goes on in Central and South America. Whether or not we do is a debatable question, but whether or not we should never has been in doubt. Nearly 200 years ago, in 1823, the promulgation of the Monroe Doctrine made it loud and clear that we would support and protect the newly independent states to the south. President Monroe recognized that it would be ideal - if not absolutely necessary - to have the support of the closest countries around us. We would be wise to heed his advice today. With international support for the United States continuing to decline, our best source of support might be right under our eyes, in our own hemisphere.
Obviously, ensuring the support of Latin America is a vastly complex matter. Even if we wake up to the issue now, we are still more than six years behind. Certain signs are promising. This year, President Bush dispatched the U.S. Naval Ship Comfort to Latin America to provide free healthcare for citizens in more than 10 countries. Even in Nicaragua, where the Sandinistas are in power, Vice President Jaime Morales said that the country was "grateful for the help" that the Comfort gives "the most destitute Nicaraguan people." Of course, these are baby steps, but we have to start somewhere. Latin America might not be big news yet, but slowly yet surely, let's hope that it creeps back onto our radar.
