U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be making her first visit to the region next week. She will be traveling to Uruguay, Chile, Brazil, Costa Rica and Guatemala.

During her visit she will attend Uruguayan President Mujica’s inauguration on March 1. In Santiago de Chile she will meet President Bachelet and President-elect Piñera. On March 3, Secretary Clinton will be meeting President Lula and External Relations Minister Amorim in Brasilia. In Costa Rica on March 4, Secretary Clinton will be a keynote speaker at the Pathways to Prosperity in the Americas Ministerial Meeting and will meet President Oscar Arias and President-elect Laura Chinchilla. During her visit to Guatemala she will meet the nation’s President Álvaro Colom.

A protocol meeting with Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner is expected to occur during Clinton’s stay in Uruguay for Mujica’s inauguration.

Why Latin America now?

The region is in the middle of a presidential swap, the countries that Clinton will visit are either inaugurating new presidencies, preparing for new presidential mandates or about to carry on elections. This provides a window of opportunity to meet the future leaders and establish a common agenda for the region while promoting issues central to Obama’s administration.

At the start of his mandate Obama pledged to move the focus of the United States’ international policy and set the light on Latin America but the constant changes of the global agenda prevented him to, causing a somewhat disappointment in regional leaders.

Iran on the Top of the Agenda

During her meeting with Brazilian President Lula da Silva and External Relations Minister Celso Amorim the Iranian nuclear enrichment plan issue will be central. The role of Brazil as regional leader is amplified since the country currently holds a seat at the United Nations’ Security Council and is pushing to move towards a permanent position. This makes the topic of Iranian sanctions a key issue, especially since concerns raised by Ahmadinejad’s visit to Brasilia last year. The bond between Brazil and Iran is not completely understood either by the international community and the Brazilian population.

Clinton seeks support for new sanctions on Iran and though the Brazilian government has advocated the Islamic country’s right to seek peaceful uses of nuclear energy (NPSGlobal 24/11/09) to continue in this line would put Brazil in the middle of international controversy product of the growing tiredness the Iranian conduct is generating on players such as Russia and Germany.

Promoting the region’s support on new sanctions on Iran will be at the top of Clinton’s agenda that will include the discussion of other topics such as economic ties, bilateral and regional cooperation and the political situation of countries like Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti, and Ecuador.

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