Latin America - If there is no immediate security threat, the thinking seems to go, why worry?

Fractured Continent: 

The Turmoil and Promise of Latin America

Juan de Onis

During President Obama’s years in office, the United States has pivoted toward Asia, chosen to lead from behind in the Islamic Middle East and Africa, and proposed some new trade and investment initiatives with Europe. And it has virtually ignored Latin America. US relations with its neighbors in the Western hemisphere have for the most part been by-products of its domestic policies on international drug trafficking and illegal immigration—a very weak and unimaginative agenda for a region that is walking a tightrope of conflict between populist authoritarianism and genuine democracy.

Some realpolitik analysts will say Latin America is secondary because it poses no security threat to the United States. The region is committed by treaty to nonproliferation and none of its countries are producing nuclear weapons. Latin America is not a haven and potential training ground for radical Islamic terrorists. There is no cultural or political base of support for an al-Qaeda presence in the region, and national intelligence services are alert to any foreign extremists. So, if there is no immediate security threat, the thinking seems to go, why worry?
.........

Read more: www.worldaffairsjournal.org