[ New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and a group of fellow
progressive Democrats are heading to South America later this month on
a congressional trip that will also challenge Biden administration
policy in the region.]
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ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ, OTHER PROGRESSIVES TO VISIT LEFT-RULED
LATIN AMERICAN NATIONS  
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Tracy Wilkinson
August 3, 2023
Los Angeles Times
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_ New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and a group of fellow
progressive Democrats are heading to South America later this month on
a congressional trip that will also challenge Biden administration
policy in the region. _

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) speaks with reporters at the
U.S. Capitol in April., (Credit: Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

 

An 11-member group of lawmakers and staff plan to leave Aug. 14 to
meet with officials and civil society groups in the region’s three
largest leftist-ruled democracies: Brazil, Chile and Colombia. The
weeklong trip to the countries’ capitals, which has not yet been
announced, will be sponsored by a progressive advocacy group based in
Washington and won’t use taxpayer funds, the organizers said.

“It’s long past time for a realignment of the United States’
relationship to Latin America,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement
provided to The Times. “The U.S. needs to publicly acknowledge the
harms we’ve committed through interventionist and extractive
policies, and chart a new course based on trust and mutual respect.”

Rep. Joaquin Castro of Texas, the top Democrat on the influential
House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, is also
scheduled to join the delegation. His office confirmed his plans but
declined to comment further.

With the arrival to the White House of President Biden — A Democrat
who prides himself on decades of familiarity with Latin America —
many activists, advocates and progressive political organizations
believed he would reverse some of Republican predecessor Donald
Trump’s policies that they felt ignored or were hostile to the
region.

But two and a half years into his presidency, Biden has maintained
some of Trump’s controversial immigration policies involving Latin
America; kept in place punitive measures against Cuba while opting not
to revive Obama-era rapprochement; and overlooked human rights or
other abuses in Mexico, Colombia and other countries in favor of U.S.
economic and trade interests.

Biden’s critics on his party’s left flank believe the president
fumbled last year when he refused to invite
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Venezuela and Nicaragua to the Summit of the Americas, a gathering of
Western Hemisphere leaders that traditionally includes all countries
in the region.

The summit, held every three or four years, was held in Los Angeles in
2022, hosted by the U.S for the first time in nearly three decades.
Biden’s exclusion of the three generally authoritarian countries
triggered a boycott of the event by several Latin American leaders.

Meanwhile, a democratic left wave was sweeping parts of the continent.

In Brazil, veteran leftist former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
was returned to power on Jan. 1 after defeating a hard-right populist
and staunch Trump ally.

Voters in Chile — where democracy has flourished after decades of
right-wing authoritarian military rule and governments have
transitioned peacefully between progressive and conservative leaders
— last year elected Gabriel Boric as the youngest president in the
hemisphere.

And Colombia, Washington’s closest ally in the region, for the first
time in its history elected a president who did not hail from either
of the country’s two traditional, mainstream pro-U.S. parties.
Gustavo Petro, a former guerrilla fighter, was sworn in to office late
last year.

“We have much to learn from our counterparts in these countries,
including how to confront disinformation and violent threats to our
democracies, how to protect our environment from capitalist pressures,
and how to engage in productive truth-and-reconciliation efforts that
provide true justice to citizens that have been harmed by their
governments,” Ocasio-Cortez said.

Brazil’s Da Silva, widely known as Lula, confronted his own version
of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol when supporters of his
defeated rival, Jair Bolsonaro, fueled by misinformation about
election fraud,
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and trashed the Brazilian Congress, Supreme Federal Court and
presidential palace on Jan. 8 of this year, hoping to overturn
Lula’s victory.

The Biden administration has also confronted numerous obstacles in its
efforts to promote better governance and economic prosperity in
Central America, partly in hopes of eradicating the violence and
poverty that have stoked migration and requests for U.S. asylum.

Guatemala, which was not long ago on the road to cleaning up
corruption and electing better leaders, is in the throes of political
turmoil in which the military and wealthy business class are
attempting to block a leftist presidential candidate who is leading in
some polls. Meanwhile, El Salvador has been taken over by Nayib
Bukele
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a millennial autocrat who is ruling with an iron fist and little
regard for human rights.

“The United States shares critical challenges with our friends in
Latin America, but we have too often prioritized corporate interests
or great power competition in our historical engagement with the
region,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) said in a statement ahead
of the trip, which his chief of staff, Misty Rebik, is joining.

“I hope this delegation will help present a new face to the
hemisphere, one based on engagement for the sake of people and
planet,” Sanders added.

Other participants include Democratic Reps. Maxwell Frost of Florida,
Nydia M. Velázquez of New York and Greg Casar of Texas, according to
organizers at the Center for Economic Policy Research.

In addition to delving into issues surrounding democracy, the
organization said, delegates will hear from South Americans on
environmental protection — with a particular focus on the vast
Amazon jungle, where Lula has made progress in arresting rampant
deforestation.

They also plan to discuss reconciliation projects following civil wars
and other unrest that have plagued the continent.

_[TRACY WILKINSON covers foreign affairs from the Los Angeles Times’
Washington, D.C., bureau.]_

* Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
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* AOC
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* Maxwell Frost
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* Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez
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* Rep. Greg Casar
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* Rep. Joaquin Castro
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* Progressive Caucus
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* Center for Economic Policy Research
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* Biden Administration
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* Latin America
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* South America
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* U.S. policy in Latin America
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* U.S. foreign policy
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* Brazil
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* Chile
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* Colombia
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