US presidential election - Global reactionsAndean leaders hailed the election of Barack Obama, expressing hope that the president-elect of the United States would seek closer ties with the region.
Evo Morales, the first indigenous president of Bolivia, said Mr Obama’s election as the first African-American president in the US, was an historic triumph, and he drew parallels between the discrimination suffered by African-Americans and indigenous Bolivians alike.
“We congratulate him on that triumph and we await the improvement in our (bilateral) relations in the future,” Mr Morales said. He called on Mr Obama to lift the embargo on Cuba.
Relations between the two nations have worsened since Mr Morales came to power in 2006, and last week, following the US decision to suspend critical trade preferences that will cost Bolivia tens of thousands of jobs, Mr Morales announced the expulsion of the Drug Enforcement Agency from Bolivia. Relations Ecuador and the US have also been fractious. Ecuador’s leftwing president, Rafael Correa, rejected a free trade agreement with the US, closed a US military base, and recently accused the Central Intelligence Agency of infiltrating Ecuador’s military before a raid by Colombian troops across Ecuador’s borders in pursuit of Farc guerrillas.
Jose Antonio Garcia Belaunde, foreign minister of Peru, welcomed Mr Obama’s victory, but voiced common regional unease over future trade policy, given the Democrat Party’s protectionist rhetoric during the election campaign.
People close to the president had given him reason to believe that Mr Obama had become open to the possibility of a free trade agreement with Colombia, Mr Belaunde said. “In spite of his past comments in respect to certain Free Trade Agreements, he has said the FTA with Peru is an example to follow in the future,” Mr Belaunde told La Republica newspaper.
US Democrats have raised objections to a proposed free trade agreement with Colombia on human rights grounds. Alvaro Uribe’s administration has been lauded for significant advances in security and prudent economic management, but accused by human rights groups of undermining courts and having links to paramilitary groups. On Tuesday, Mario Montoya, Colombia’s top army general, resigned amid a scandal over the killing of civilians who were later portrayed as members of the Farc or other rebel groups.
In the streets of Lima, Mr Obama was a popular choice among locals and young American travellers alike. ”He’s a good man, and I think he’ll be a good president,” said American Paul Kerege. ”One man can only do so much, the American people are going to have to step up to solve our problems”. Marcos Arteaga, a street food vendor, was sceptical about seeing any real change in US policy. “It doesn’t matter if it is McCain or Obama, they are all the same,” he said.
Maria Teresa Cortez, a waitress surrounded by euphoric Obama supporters at an election party in a Miraflores bar, confessed shyly that she liked McCain. “I think they made the wrong decision. Obama is too young,” she said.
