Macri may shake Latin America’s politics

(Photo: Ricardo Mazalan AP)

If the polls are right and opposition leader Mauricio Macri wins Sunday’s elections in Argentina, we may see a huge change in Latin America’s political map: Macri has vowed to take distance from Venezuela’s leftist-populist regime, and seek closer ties with the pro-market Pacific Alliance bloc made up of Mexico, Colombia, Peru and Chile.

When I asked Macri in an interview earlier this year what would change in Argentina’s foreign policy if he becomes president, he started out by responding, “Everything!” Judging from his statements in recent days, that may turn out to be true. Here are some of Macri’s foreign policy plans:

On Venezuela, Macri has vowed to end outgoing President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s close political alliance with Venezuela. During the Nov. 15 presidential debate with government-backed candidate Daniel Scioli, Macri said that he would call for Venezuela’s “suspension” from Mercosur — the southern cone’s economic bloc made up of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Venezuela — for not complying with the group’s democratic clause requiring all member countries to abide by democratic principles.

Macri did not elaborate, but one of his closest foreign policy advisers, Diego Guelar, told me that Macri may propose Venezuela’s suspension from Mercosur shortly after his Dec. 10 inauguration, during a Mercosur summit scheduled for Paraguay on Dec. 21.

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