Trump needs positive agenda for Latin America or risks antagonizing the region

(Photo: Evan Vucci – AP)

We are already seeing signs that Latin America may unite in condemning the United States if President-elect Donald Trump goes ahead with his plans to build a border wall, deport millions of undocumented immigrants, dismantle or re-negotiate free trade deals with Mexico and other countries and overturn the U.S. normalization with Cuba.

Last week, while on a trip to Chile, I already saw some signs that the reaction to Trump’s plans will not come only from the usual suspects — the anti-American autocrats who rule in Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Cuba — but also from U.S. allies. Trump’s negative agenda for the region risks antagonizing the entire hemisphere.

Former Chilean President Ricardo Lagos, a leader of Chile’s ruling party and a top contender for the 2017 elections, is already calling for a Latin American summit to denounce Trump’s proposed border wall if the U.S. president-elect goes ahead with his plan to dramatically expand the existing fence.

“If the proposal to build a wall on the U.S-Mexican border materializes, I propose that we lead a Latin American summit to fight its implementation and protest against it, because it affects us all, ” Lagos wrote in the daily El Mercurio. “We must say with strength and clarity that, under these circumstances, we are all Mexicans.”

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