Aid war

Here is something you won’t see every day, as the Washington Office on Latin America is applauding a proposed U.S. policy. In this case, it is a proposed Senate bill to send $2.5 billion over 10 years to Latin America. I am a bit surprised that it is receiving no media attention, but I suppose aid is only newsworthy when it comes from leaders we don’t like. (Well, and there is that little problem of actually getting it passed in a Congress mostly intent on pretending Latin America doesn’t exist except as a source of immigrants we don’t want).

Thus, there is tremendous coverage of Iranian President Ahmadinejad pledging $1 billion to Bolivia, which should be grist for many apocalyptic Op-Eds. Given his shaky internal position in Iran, I really have to wonder how much of that will come through. Nonetheless, it is always a bummer to see Latin American presidents follow the U.S. example of embracing dictators.

And, apparently, Shakira is also sending aid to Latin America ($40 million worth). Hey, every little bit counts.

At the UN, Lula called on the U.S. to become more involved in Latin American economic development. It’s a sad commentary when you need a foreign leader to remind you that, by the way, the Cold War has been over for quite some time so let’s start moving on.

Who knows how much of all this aid will materialize, how it will be used, etc. but an “aid war” is far preferable to the alternatives we’ve generally seen in the past.