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Preoccupied by fierce budget battles at home and political uncertainty in the Middle East, President Obama heads this week to Latin America – his first visit to Central America (El Salvador) and South America (Brazil and Chile).

Expectations in the region appear to be modest. Almost two years since Obama made his first trip south of the United States – to Mexico, en route to a summit in Trinidad and Tobago – there has been little progress on an agenda that includes drugs, trade and immigration. Obama has been inundated and distracted. Polarized politics in the United States has only complicated matters.

Yet, for five days Obama will be focused on a Latin America that has undergone profound changes and that is increasingly diverse. Concerns and priorities in Brasilia are vastly different than those in San Salvador. Obama has an opportunity to recognize Latin America’s importance and help establish a more solid foundation for effective cooperation.

Obama’s two-day visit to Brazil will be most closely watched. There has been irritation in US-Brazil relations in the past two years – the product of difference over Honduras, the US-Colombia defense cooperation agreement, Cuba policy and, most seriously, Iran’s nuclear program. With Dilma Rousseff in office for just two months, both Washington and Brasilia are eager to put the bilateral relationship on a more productive course.

Obama can be expected to acknowledge and celebrate Brazil’s impressive progress in recent years. Its growing stature and influence in regional and global affairs is beyond question. Brazilians will follow how Obama’s words and promises compare with those he made on his visit to India last year. Though Washington does not yet seem prepared to support Brazil’s permanent seat on the UN Security Council, a decision may only be a matter of time in view of the South American power’s ascent.
Obama can be expected to use his stop in Chile to emphasize how favorably the US views the combination of sound economic management, effective social policies and democratic governance the country exemplifies. An orderly political transition since the Pinochet dictatorship could send a signal to Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries that are seeking to move peacefully from an old to a new order.

In El Salvador, too, Obama is likely to recognize the alternation in power – in this case from center-right to center-left, rather than center-left to center-right in Chile. Washington views Salvadoran president Mauricio Funes as a moderate and pragmatic leader who can be an effective partner in dealing with the spreading criminality that afflicts much of Central America. The Obama administration is increasingly worried about the security situation in the region, aggravated by the displacement of drug cartel operations from Mexico to Guatemala, Honduras, and even El Salvador. The deepening social and cultural connections between US and Latin American societies will also be highlighted in the Central American stop.

Colombia stands out because, being such a close US ally for so long, it was not included in Obama’s agenda this time. Though it is true, as the administration says, that Obama is expected to visit Colombia in 2012 (on the occasion of the Summit of the Americas in Cartagena), this explanation is not convincing. A hemispheric meeting is not the same as a state visit.

More plausible is that, since the fate of US-Colombia free trade agreement remains uncertain, an Obama visit would have been uncomfortable for him and President Santos. Unfortunately, the agreement is caught up in US domestic political battles, and the White House, though generally moving ahead, is still tentative in staking out a clear position.

Though he has a lot on his mind these days, Obama has a chance in this visit to redefine and reshape US-Latin American relations, not only for today but over the next decade. The good news is that he is well-liked and has a long-range vision. What remains to be seen, however, is whether he is prepared to spend enough political capital to help turn a rich hemispheric agenda into reality.

Full article in Spanish via El Colombiano.