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Actualizada: 10/V/04 Crisis y oportunidad: logrando las esperanzas del Hemisferio
English version
Estados Unidos se interesa por América Latina y se esfuerza por hacer avanzar los intereses comunes, pero los gobiernos regionales también deben hacer lo que les corresponde para promover el comercio y la democracia en el Hemisferio, según el Secretario de Estado adjunto para Asuntos del Hemisferio Occidental, Roger Noriega. En sus declaraciones del 3 de mayo ante el Consejo de las Américas, Noriega dijo que la meta de Estados Unidos para el Hemisferio Occidental es "generar un crecimiento de base amplia por medio del libre comercio y las políticas económicas acertadas, la inversión en el bienestar de sus ciudadanos de todas la condiciones sociales y que la democracia les sirva más eficaz y justamente". En cuanto a los asuntos interamericanos, agregó que el objetivo de Estados Unidos es "fortalecer una comunidad interamericana formada por socios económicos democráticos estables y prósperos; vecinos amistosos que puedan ayudar a asegurar nuestras fronteras contra el terrorismo y las drogas ilícitas y países que colaboren en el mundo para adelantar nuestros principios económicos y políticos comunes". Noriega dijo que Estados Unidos persigue enérgicamente estos fines, en parte por medio de medidas tales como un programa dinámico de comercio; el programa de la Cuenta del Desafío del Milenio, que tiene por objeto compensar a los países que practican el buen gobierno, y el plan de inmigración del Presidente que pone en contacto a empleadores y empleados dispuestos a contratar y trabajar, respectivamente. "Así que Estados Unidos está haciendo más que prestar atención a la región", dijo Noriega. "Hemos establecido principios, tenemos políticas en acción y programas en marcha para llevar adelante nuestros intereses comunes en todas las Américas". Noriega explicó que el continuo liderazgo de Estados Unidos y los US $540 millardos en ingresos e inversión que suministra a la región cada año son esenciales. Advirtió, sin embargo, que los gobiernos latinoamericanos deben utilizar acertadamente estos recursos considerables y demás asistencia económica. "Ninguna suma de asistencia estadounidense va a ayudar a un país cuyo gobierno no está preparado para ayudarse a sí mismo mediante la adopción del tipo de políticas que hacen más eficaz el empleo de ese ingreso ya amplio de por sí", señaló. "A los contribuyentes estadounidenses se les puede convencer de ayudar a quienes se ayudan a sí mismos, pero no a quienes no lo hacen". Noriega indicó que Estados Unidos continuará haciendo lo que le corresponde para fomentar el comercio y la democracia en la región como una estrategia acertada para mejorar la suerte de la región. Sin embargo, dijo, Estados Unidos no puede "reorganizar la dinámica interna" de las 34 democracias regionales, sólo puede urgir a todos los gobiernos para que obren mejor y compensar a los que lo hacen. "La mayoría de los asuntos pendientes consiste en cosas que los gobiernos individualmente deben hacer por sus propios pueblos y por ellos mismos", explicó. "Para derrotar la pobreza, permanecer competitivos y sostener el crecimiento económico, los gobiernos, individualmente, deben tomar las medidas esenciales para desatar la capacidad productiva de la mayoría pobre, a la que hoy se le niega una justicia básica, servicios sociales o meras oportunidades de hacer su parte". Noriega observó que la Cumbre Extraordinaria de las Américas, celebrada en México en enero de 2004, se concentró en los asuntos pendientes que los gobiernos deben abordar. Los aspectos en que se concentró la Cumbre Extraordinaria, recordó, fueron: "estimular el crecimiento económico y reducir la pobreza; invertir en nuestros pueblos para mejorar la calidad de vida y darles las armas que requieren para tener éxito en la economía actual, y promover el buen ejercicio del gobierno y luchar contra la corrupción". Con estos esfuerzos, dijo Noriega, la región aborda colectivamente estos males. "Todo lo que se requiere es que asumamos la responsabilidad de hacer por nosotros mismos y entre nosotros lo que sabemos que debe hacerse", agregó.
Roger F. Noriega
Good morning. This is the second time at this conference that I've had to follow Colin Powell. It's a treacherous challenge.
I see a lot of good friends here; a couple of enemies. You know who you are. Thanks, Susan, for that introduction. I thank you for your hospitality. Welcome to the State Department. This is my first address to you as Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere affairs. To a certain extent, I regard this as an opportunity to address shareholders on my first nine months in office, so let me tell you a little bit about how that is going.
Where there is criticism of our policy on the editorial pages, it runs something like this: we are being too quiet about our role on "X" issue; or we are being too noisy about what we want; we should work multilaterally; or we are crazy to rely on multilateralism; we are not working with left-wing governments, but we should; we are working with left-wing governments, but we should not be; we did not bail out a bankrupt government, but we should have; we should have bailed out a bankrupt government, but we did not.
Most commentators agree on one thing: the United States is not doing enough. But they do not agree on the one thing that we should be doing, just that we should be doing enough of that, whatever that is.
To these commentators, let me say, thank you for your insight. To all of you here this morning who care about the Americas, let me reassure you that we do not rely on this sage advice to shape our policy.
Every morning, when the 300 or so employees of the Western Hemisphere Bureau who work with me boot up their computer systems, they see a screensaver reminding them of what our team is all about, what are our objectives, what is our mission. Our mission? To generate broad-based growth through free trade and sound economic policies, to invest in the well-being of people from all walks of life, and to make democracy serve the citizen more effectively and justly. Our objective? To strengthen an inter-American community formed by economic partners that are democratic, stable and prosperous; friendly neighbors that help secure our borders against terrorism and illegal drugs; and nations that work together in the world to advance our common economic and political values.
I share that with this audience because, in a sense, you are members of the team that wants to make the most of the enormous potential that the Americas represent, in terms of building a brighter future for ourselves, for our neighbors, and for our world.
President Bush is committed to that vision. He knows the region well; the terrain, the challenges, their weaknesses, and their strengths. Our president cares about the Americas, but he does more than that. He leads, he cooperates, he acts. He has made up for lost time by advancing the cause of free trade, which is the engine of economic growth for all concerned. You know the very impressive record and you will hear more about that from Ambassador Robert Zoellick.
The President insists that the very poorest among us not only have a right to democracy and the rule of law, and the most to gain from the free exercise of God-given freedoms. And that includes those in Cuba and Haiti and Venezuela.
The Millennium Challenge Account that President Bush has created will soon provide a dramatic increase in economic assistance, to bolster those leaders who govern justly and well, who fight corruption, and who invest in their people.
President Bush's immigration plan, to match willing employer with willing worker, recognizes the vital contribution that immigrants make to the U.S. economy. Once adopted, that plan will go a long way towards providing dignity and security for millions of temporary workers, who send about $30 billion home each year to the families in the region.
And the President is committed to genuinely cooperating with our neighbors through an OAS that is ambitious and effective, and a summit agenda that is substantial and results-oriented.
So the United States is doing more than paying attention to the region. We have principles in place, policies at work, and programs underway to advance our common interests across the board in the Americas.
What are these challenges? When I was sworn in formally by Secretary Powell, this is how I described the challenges before us: "Over the last two decades, the people of the Americas have made enormous progress. We must help our neighbors consolidate these gains in the face of serious challenges. Millions of our neighbors, too many of them children, lack the shelter and their daily bread. Their economies are not growing fast enough to generate sufficient jobs for growing populations, let alone addressing chronic poverty. Corruption and inefficiency have stunted development and spawned popular discontent. Several governments are confronting serious national security threats from terrorists and other criminal gangs. It is fair to say that the roots of most of the problems in the Americas are political and institutional, rather than economic."
I concluded my comments with this admonition, which bears repeating today: "I hope that our success is not measured by whether we have made life a little better for the very rich, but whether we have made it a lot better for the very poor; freer for those who are oppressed; and more hopeful for those who are desperate, because you can't measure justice or hope in macroeconomic data, which is why such data is not a full measure of development. Genuinely sound and principled policies are those that make the world better for the humblest among us, because they will reap prosperity and stability for generations to come."
I noted: "We can't solve these problems from Washington. The tough, necessary decisions must be made by the leaders in the region themselves. However, let there be no doubt that U.S. leadership is crucial to helping our friends."
U.S. leadership is indeed at work. Where we can help, we are acting, creatively and vigorously. The free-trade investment agenda we are pushing is coupled with wise economic assistance programs, to help meet basic human needs, to help retool economies to make them more competitive, as a track record of real achievement.
Foreign trade, plus the capital investment that generally goes along with it, is not a charitable undertaking. But while it is true that developed nations stand to benefit from increased trade, the very poor need it desperately. Poor countries have as much or more to gain from multilateral rules-based trading assistance that we have put so much energy into promoting.
First-world countries and their companies can survive by throwing their economic weight around. Small developing countries rely on rules. World Bank studies have documented that developing countries that trade freely grow their GDP and reduce poverty faster than those that do not. In fact, they even grow faster than developed countries, including the United States.
There are those in the Americas who would have us believe that all of the region's ills could be served by a large helping of U.S. foreign aid or international loans. Don't misunderstand me; our economic assistance is of immense value. It is invested quite wisely to help recipient countries and constitutes a great bargain for our taxpayers.
But bear this in mind: the United States now purchases about $240 billion in products from Latin America and the Caribbean annually. On top of that, our direct investment in the region totals $270 billion. Remittances flowing from the United States to the region amount to about $32 billion more.
That $540 billion in income and investment is 1,200 times the total U.S. economic aid to the region. Some will say that that income doesn't reach the poor. I simply say that it should. And no amount of U.S. aid is going to help a country whose government is not prepared to help itself by adopting the kinds of policies that make more effective the use of that already vast income.
American taxpayers can be convinced to help those who help themselves, but not those who do not. And why should future generations of Latin Americans and Caribbean peoples assume the burden of additional debt from loans to governments today that do not have the political will to adopt the correct fiscal, economic and social policies that are needed today?
Another fact that should be remembered is that we quite consciously link our commitment to free trade and to democracy and to the rule of law. The reason is that they have to go hand-in-hand. Strong democratic institutions give people clout to claim their fair share of economic opportunity. In the rule of law, nothing more or less than the state applying the rules of the game without fear or favor will distribute not just finite income, but boundless opportunity.
Reducing poverty is not an afterthought of our policy; it is a central goal. Closing the gap between rich and poor leads to stability and allows all citizens to achieve their full potential. Absent the rule of law, corruption, sweetheart deals and arbitrary policies will choke off economic growth and undermine confidence in the marketplace, which is a setback for the wealthy, but a disaster for the poor.
Another example: some assert that the free-trade agenda is about exploiting low-wage workers. But the fact is, during the decade in which President Aristide was running Haiti, you couldn't pay anyone in the Hemisphere less than you could pay a Haitian for a full day's work. But you did not see people moving their factories to Haiti, because there was no rule of law to protect a penny's worth of investment in that country. Every Haitian will be better off with a healthy dose of honest government, as well as the trade and investment, which I daresay will come with it.
Free trade plus democracy comes with a bonus: peace. The pages of history are blotted by dictators wasting lives and treasure and impoverishing their neighbors by waging war against one another. Nations that share a common destiny don't try to destroy one another. Nations and societies at peace are much more likely to sustain economic growth and invest in social programs that will benefit people, again, from all walks of life.
These examples demonstrate how our commitment to free trade and investment in the region helps an individual country build a more prosperous and just society. Our regional promotion of democracy and the rule of law also advances this objective. It's really very simple. Democratic institutions such as free legislatures, independent courts, political parties, civil society organizations, et cetera, exist for the sole purpose of giving a people a say in how to run their own country. In fact, they are designed to develop and apply the rules of the game in an open, transparent, reliable way.
Strong democratic institutions are intended to respond to popular will, process dissent and head off unrest before it threatens social peace. A genuine democrat does not seek to polarize his society or encourage class warfare; he relies on democratic institutions to do just the opposite.
I realize that there is a long way between where we are and where we want to be, in terms of fully functioning democracies that protect the humblest and the weakest among us. But there is no doubt about where we are headed and why.
It's fair to say that our region faces its share of problems today, and some have cited these troubles as proof that the trade-and-democracy model has failed the people. I do not agree. Let's take one of the toughest examples in the hemisphere: Bolivia, where the numbers tell a positive story from the last two decades.
Since 1982, infant mortality in Bolivia has been cut in half, down from 118 to 59 deaths per thousand live births. Adult literacy has risen dramatically, from 69% to 87%. Life expectancy has risen from 52 to 64 years. Gross domestic product has more than doubled, from $3 billion to $8 billion annually.
Yes, Bolivia still lags behind the rest of the region, and many Bolivians live in abject poverty. But this record of results argues for quickening the pace of reforms, not changing course.
Yes, indeed, Washington will do its part in promoting the trade-and-democracy model because we see it is a sound strategy for improving the region's fortunes among our countries. But Washington cannot retool the internal dynamics within the 34 other economies of the region to make them more efficient, fair and competitive. We get into enough trouble trying to do that here at home.
We can urge all countries to do better. We can even reward those that do. But most of the unfinished business includes things that individual governments must do for their own people and for themselves. In order to defeat poverty, to remain competitive and to sustain economic growth, individual governments themselves must take the essential measures to unleash the productive capacity of the poor majority who are today denied basic justice, social services or mere opportunities to pull their own weight.
A country with a medieval property registration system is twisting in an economic straightjacket. A country that makes it impossible to do honest business smothers job creation. A country that has a 19th century judicial system can never compete in a 21st century regional and global economy. A country with an educational system that under-funds basic schooling and does not measure results will never produce a First World labor force.
All of these essential ingredients have one thing in common: they are tasks that our neighbors have to do for themselves. That is a strategy that we are pursing in earnest today.
Just after assuming this post, I met with a friendly president in the region who offered some sound advice. This was in September or so, talking about a summit that was supposed to happen in January, 2004.
He said, "You do not want to bring my good friend, George Bush, to the Monterrey summit. He is going to face a lot of criticism about the Washington consensus, about the failures of the Washington consensus, a lot of criticism about the IMF and the desperate need for more loans and more aid, et cetera."
At the time of that conversation, the summit was months away. Now the meeting in Monterrey is history, and the results were constructive and positive. Here is why: rather than wring our hands about the problems the region was facing, we worked with our friends to fashion some practical solutions. We reached Monterrey with a list of unfinished business that governments should undertake for themselves to generate jobs and fight poverty.
This Special Summit focused on three areas: stimulating economic growth and reducing poverty; investing in our people to improve the quality of life and to provide them the tools that they require for success in today's economy; and promoting good governance and fighting corruption.
Economic growth is essential to creating wealth and eliminating poverty. Our neighbors committed themselves to four practical steps that prime the pump of economic growth and distribute economic opportunity to people from all walks of life. They agreed to strengthen and enforce property rights, lower barriers to remitted earnings and increasing access to financial services, removing obstacles to starting a small business, and increasing access to capital for small business owners.
It is hard to make capitalists of people who have never seen, let alone touched, capital. Real property is where the rubber meets the road for most of these folks. An effective property system that provides for enforceable, efficient and equitable rights to property is the foundation of a market economy. Reforming laws and regulations so that registered property can serve as collateral is essential. Hope of property titling leading to broadly available credit has been an elusive goal in many countries. In Monterrey, leaders have committed themselves to decisive action to achieve that practical, promising goal. We did the same on reducing the cost of remittances.
We also moved to commit to remove roadblocks to starting a business in the region. About 80 percent of all business in Latin America are small and medium-size enterprises, employing well over half of the region's employees. Yet entrepreneurs wanting to start a business or expand businesses in Latin America face a bureaucratic gauntlet.
According to World Bank studies, it takes longer to start a business in Latin America than in Sub-Saharan Africa. In one major country in the region, it takes an average of 100 days. In the United States, it takes three; in Canada, two.
The costs of starting a business are also prohibitively high in this region. We also have to do better on access to capital. Less domestic credit is extended in the private sector in Latin America, about half, than what is extended in the rest of the developing markets in the world.
So we committed in Monterrey to practical measures to making it easier to start businesses and to expand and to, as a matter of fact, triple the amount of capital available to private-sector development.
We also agreed on fighting corruption, meeting our commitments to the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption, to promoting ethical business practices and good corporate citizenship. We did that in Monterrey as well.
On the education front, we committed to measuring the results, to seeing whether our educational systems are actually producing educated youth. The best school systems in this region fall in the bottom quartile of worldwide achievement tests. We have the highest repetition and dropout rates in the world. That puts us even behind the rest of the developing world. And matter of fact, we are even falling further behind, so we have to do better, and we made commitments in Monterrey to do within our own countries the things necessary to measure results and achievement. And we did the same on health. And the secretary [of state] referred to HIV/AIDS.
It's fair to say that the roots of most of the problems in the region are political and institutional, rather than economic, and we are going to get at those things. We are addressing those things. We have policies in place to do what we can to help.
Along with the incentives, resources and opportunities offered by the president's Millennium Challenge Account and free trade, the economic reforms and social investments called for in the agenda of the Special Summit of Monterrey offer a tried-and-true method for creating national wealth and improving quality of life for our poor. That is, all that is required is that we assume the responsibility for doing for ourselves and with one another the things which we know are right.
Thank you very much. |
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