Andean Working Group Convenes in Washington

By Dan Joyce
May 7, 2007

The twelfth meeting of the Andean Working Group was held in Washington on May 7 and 8. Participants discussed each of the countries in the region-Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela-as well as the growing influence of Brazil and the United States. The meeting came on the heels of President Álvaro Uribe's visit to Washington, which he used to push for the approval of the free trade agreement between the U.S. and Colombia, the renewal of Plan Colombia funding, and the unfreezing of aid money. Emphasis was placed on the U.S. free trade agreements with Peru and Colombia, the possible extension of the Andean Trade Preferences and Drug Eradication Act, and Colombia's parapolitics scandal-revelations that high-level legislators and government officials, primarily supporters of President Uribe, collaborated with paramilitary leaders. Other themes that emerged during the meeting included the political consequences of drug trafficking, energy integration, and fractured party systems in the Andean countries.

Participants also noted and debated President Rafael Correa's rapid consolidation of power in Ecuador and his tense relations with Colombia over coca fumigation; the inability of President Evo Morales to push through a new constitution or limit coca production in Bolivia; the rising inequality that has accompanied steady economic growth in Peru; and President Hugo Chávez's push for greater institutional control in Venezuela. In addition to the two full-day meetings, working group members participated in a dinner discussion with high-level Congressional staff. The Dialogue also hosted two public events in conjunction with the working group meeting-one analyzing the parapolitics scandal in Colombia and another on the political situation in Ecuador.

Members of the Andean Working Group represent a range of perspectives as public and academic leaders from the Andean region, Europe, Canada, the United States and Latin America.