Accepts Award for Work to Promote Human Rights in Latin America
September 18, 2008WASHINGTON, D.C. – Last night, Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) was honored by the Washington Office on Latin America for his work in Congress to support and strengthen human rights in Latin America. Dodd accepted WOLA’s 2008 Human Rights Award at their annual gala, where he also addressed his vision for a strategic partnership between the United States and Latin America.
“For too long, Latin America has been called our ‘backyard,’ and the people of Latin America have been treated in similar fashion,” Dodd said in his remarks. “But it’s not our backyard; it’s our neighborhood. And it is time for the United States to stop telling Latin America what it must do and start working with our neighbors to build a better community for us all.”
Dodd, a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the Chairman of its Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, Peace Corps, and Narcotics Affairs, addressed the need for a renewed partnership with Latin America in speeches before the United States Naval Academy, the Organization of American States, and the World Affairs Council earlier this year. In May, he travelled to Latin America to meet with key regional leaders in order to establish closer working relationships to help advance prosperity and partnership in our hemisphere.
The full text of Senator Dodd’s remarks is below:
I’m honored to be here tonight to accept the Washington Office on Latin America’s Award for promoting human rights in Latin America. I want to thank WOLA for this prestigious award. It is truly an honor. I also want to thank Joy Olson and WOLA’s staff and Board of Directors for everything you do to enrich and deepen our understanding of Latin America. You identify challenges in the region and promote solutions that are in our common interest. From your programs on violence against women, and gangs and youth violence, to your publications on Colombia, Guatemala, and Cuba, WOLA provides important analysis and advocacy on issues central to our well-being in the Western Hemisphere. So thank you.
I firmly believe that the next American President, whoever he may be, will have a historic opportunity to partner with our neighbors in Latin America. The recent tit-for-tat Ambassadorial expulsions underscore the need for us to take a fresh look at our relations across the region.
Our new president will have the opportunity to work in tandem with the countries of our hemisphere to find and implement solutions that will benefit all of us, on migration and energy; security and poverty.
For too long, Latin America has been called our “backyard,” and the people of Latin America have been treated in similar fashion. But it’s not our backyard; it’s our neighborhood. And it is time for the United States to stop telling Latin America what it must do and start working with our neighbors to build a better community for us all
A central reason that I believe we are at the cross-roads of a historic opportunity in Latin America is that Latin America itself is experiencing unprecedented change – a positive revolution of sorts. Gone are the days of east-west ideological struggles, of petty dictators and uncontrolled military establishments.
In today’s Latin America, political inclusion has expanded massively, through overwhelmingly democratic processes — millions who have never before voted have not only cast their ballot, but they also have been brought into the wider political process: they organize and demonstrate, they engage, and they expect their governments to be responsive to their needs. Democracy in Latin America – like everywhere else—is sometimes messy, and mistakes are sometimes made. But the change is positive and historic.
Our next President will inherit a number of policy options, including free trade agreements, counter-narcotics and security cooperation, and aid programs. But more than any specific policy prescription, our next President can and must build a larger strategic partnership with the region that sets a positive tone built on mutual respect; that harnesses existing democratic energies; and better marshals resources behind common-sense solutions.
First, the United States should partner with the region’s consolidated democracies, particularly Brazil and Mexico. We all know our neighbors don’t want micromanagement from us, and we don’t want to micromanage them. Instead, we should embark on a new era of “leadership in partnership” –joining with others who are working on creative and effective solutions to their social, economic and political challenges, such as Lula’s successful anti-poverty programs in Brazil.
Second, the United States must engage beyond the traditional elites. Maintaining good relations with traditional social, political and economic elites will remain important. But the United States should condemn all anti-democratic behavior, even when it is these very elites who cross the line. And, we have to try harder to engage the newly empowered, both in and outside of government, in a respectful and democratic dialogue. Some of them have a way to go, and they need our help more than our judgmentalism.
Forging this new relationship in the hemisphere is a daunting task. But in spite of past missteps, I believe that there’s a lot of good will in Latin America. As one travels around this hemisphere and comes across the many Avenidas de Kennedy winding throughout its cities, one cannot avoid being humbled by the spirit of friendship and admiration that exists for the ideals that are America at its best.
We may not know the names of the new avenues built during this new century, but we know where they should start – with solid, constructive leadership and engagement by the United States.
And we know where they must lead – to closer cooperation and progress toward our shared goals. Let us begin our journey down that path today.
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