OBAMA, ENERGY & LATIN AMERICA

Obama's Latin American priority: energy
Andres Oppenheimer, January 18, 2009 (Miami Herald)

“Here's my bet: The Obama administration's top priority in Latin America will be signing a hemispheric energy cooperation deal that -- if carried out -- would reduce U.S. dependency on foreign oil, bolster U.S. ties with Brazil, and undermine Venezuela's petrodollar-fueled radicalism in the region.

“It's almost official, although they won't frame it that explicitly. Obama first proposed an ''Energy Partnership of the Americas'' in a May 2008 campaign speech and later advanced the idea to develop alternative fuels in the region in interviews…

“Last week, Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton elevated the idea to a maximum regional priority during her confirmation hearings. In her opening statement, when she got to Latin America -- almost at the end of her foreign policy priorities -- her most specific proposal was ``taking up the president-elect's call for a new Energy Partnership of the Americas.''

“…It won't be easy. During the campaign, Obama opposed cutting U.S. import duties on Brazil's sugar cane ethanol. Also, with gasoline prices at their current lows, political pressures to achieve energy independence may diminish. And the monumental U.S. financial bailouts will leave little money for grand hemispheric programs…

“But if Obama can persuade Latin American countries that there is something in it for them -- be it job-creating investments, energy diversification or economic and political independence from Venezuela's erratic President Hugo Chávez -- he may be onto something.

“We may move from regional free trade and anti-drug fatigue to a new stage of hemisphere-wide enthusiasm over development of environmentally safe alternative energies.”