If I were one of President Bush's close friends in corporate America — the ones he really listens to — and was asked for advice for his trip to Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico Thursday through next Wednesday, this is the letter I would send him:
Dear Mr. President:
Congratulations for having decided to make this much-needed trip. As you are well aware, the Democratic Party will accuse you in the 2008 election campaign of having "lost" Latin America. They will argue that Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua have veered to the radical left during your tenure. The Republican Party will need some big-time damage control in the region.
To reverse this trend and restore the U.S. image as an engine of social progress, we need bold new ideas.
In addition to offering to reduce U.S. agricultural subsidies — they are badly hurting Latin America and U.S. consumers — and give a new push to your important plan to legalize millions of undocumented immigrants in the United States, you could announce several concrete initiatives:
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● The "Hemispheric Biofuels Initiative" that you are scheduled to announce in Brazil, under which the United States and Brazil will jointly develop ethanol production in Central America and the Caribbean, is a good start. It should help Caribbean Basin countries reduce their oil import bills and start exporting ethanol to the United States.
In addition, it will help Brazil regain some regional stature and contain Venezuela's expansionism. At the same time, the plan will help meet your Jan. 23 State of the Union vow to reduce America's foreign oil dependence. It's a win-win plan.
● Get ahead of the Democratic Party's 2008 campaign platform and announce a "New Alliance for Progress for Latin America and the Caribbean." It should offer low-interest loans and grants for family businesses in the region's poorest areas, and should help the poor to get property titles on their homes, turning them into credit-worthy individuals and integrating them into the formal economy. Let's start lending directly to the poor and not just to the rich.
● Announce a "Hemispheric Health Cooperation Plan" that allows the 100 million Americans who will retire over the next 30 years to use their U.S. medical insurance to get lower-cost, more personalized health care at U.S.-certified hospitals in Latin American countries.
Even if at its start the plan would be used mostly by Hispanic Americans to seek medical services in their native countries, medical tourism would give a tremendous economic boost to the region, help Washington control rising U.S. health costs, and help reduce the giant U.S. budget deficit.
Mexico and Central America could follow Spain's example, and become a second home to millions of Northern retirees eager to enjoy a better climate, more personalized health care, and a cheaper cost of living. Hemispheric Health Cooperation Plan agreements should become the biggest issue on the bilateral agenda in the next decade.
● Launch a "Hemispheric English Language Program," or HELP. While China has started teaching compulsory English in all public schools starting in third grade, most Latin American countries — U.S. free-trade partner Mexico among them — start teaching English in seventh grade.
We should offer free English- language courses on the Internet, run by established universities that would give out U.S.-certified degrees.
Mr. President, I hope this helps. And, just in case, don't let your speechwriters make you say that Latin America is a big U.S. priority.
People still remember that you vowed on Aug. 25, 2000, to make Latin America "a fundamental commitment" of your presidency, and not much happened afterward. Focus on plans that benefit all, especially the poor.
Best of luck to you,
Andrés
My opinion
Andrés Oppenheimer
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