The Inter-American Dialogue hosted a conversation on Peru’s foreign policy agenda featuring José Antonio García Belaunde, Peru’s Minister of Foreign Affairs. The session took place on Tuesday, March 30 from 8:30 to 10:00 a.m. at the Inter-American Dialogue.
Minister García Belaunde, a distinguished diplomat, discussed Peru’s current foreign policy priorities, focusing on relationships with the United States and its Latin American neighbors, as well as extra-hemispheric economic and political ties. He also spoke about Peru’s approach to regional organizations in advance of the June General Assembly meeting of the Organization of American States that will be held in Lima.
Peruvian Foreign Minister: New Regional Bloc Likely Unfeasible
By Matthew Schewel
WASHINGTON—The new organization of Latin American and Caribbean states announced last month at a leaders' summit in Cancún would likely be unfeasible due to ideological divisions among its members, Peru's foreign minister said Tuesday. "I don't have the slightest idea of how [the organization announced in] Cancún will work," Jose Antonio García Belaunde said during a presentation at the Inter-American Dialogue.
The proposed bloc, tentatively called the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, would exclude the United States and Canada, which some critics in Latin America say have wielded too much power within the Washington-based Organization of American States. García Belaunde said that before creating a new group to negotiate with outside actors, Latin American countries should first work on resolving differences among themselves. He added there is currently no forum to handle disputes like the recent commercial spat between Colombia and Venezuela, although he noted the mediation efforts of Dominican President Leonel Fernández.
In the past decade, ideological divisions between South American countries, particularly over free trade, have developed into what García Belaunde called a "low-intensity cold war," pitting market-friendly countries like Peru and Colombia against the followers of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's "Bolivarian" socialism. Venezuela's withdrawal from the Andean Community in 2006 marked a "warning sign" in the development of this divide, García Belaunde said. "Chávez has since then divided South America into two currents," he added.
While Venezuela opted for political integration through Chávez's Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA), Peru pursued a development course based on opening up its economy through free trade agreements with the United States and China. That has enabled Peru to grow faster than any other country in the region, while reducing the poverty rate from 46 percent in 2006 to 36 percent in 2009, García Belaunde said. With free trade negotiations currently underway with the European Union, President Alan Garcia hopes to have 80 to 85 percent of Peru's trade flows under the "umbrella of free trade" by the time he steps down next year, the foreign minister added.
García Belaunde said he hopes that Peru's free market success will speak for itself, while noting that Chávez's Bolivarian model has seen its own setbacks. "ALBA isn't what it was before; the Venezuelan model has suffered a lot" due to the recent currency devaluation and other economic challenges, García Belaunde said.
Peru is gearing up to host the OAS general assembly in June, and García Belaunde said the meeting's agenda would focus on "peace, security and cooperation" with a particular emphasis on addressing a recent arms buildup in South America.
In addition, he said the OAS should work to defend democracy from leaders who bypass institutions, alluding to the crisis in Honduras last year that led to the ouster of President Manuel Zelaya. Asked whether Honduras should be allowed to rejoin the OAS after its suspension last year, García Belaunde said it was wrong for countries to continue excluding the Central American country in the wake of elections deemed free and fair by the international community.
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WASHINGTON—The new organization of Latin American and Caribbean states announced last month at a leaders' summit in Cancún would likely be unfeasible due to ideological divisions among its members, Peru's foreign minister said Tuesday. "I don't have the slightest idea of how [the organization announced in] Cancún will work," Jose Antonio García Belaunde said during a presentation at the Inter-American Dialogue.