Obama wants positive agenda with Latinos

President George W. Bush and Barack Obama meet in Oval Office2President Obama made a vow on Wednesday that he intends to make use of his second term in order to keep pushing a “positive agenda” with Latin America, the region that tends to get short shrift in comparison to the turbulent Middle East or fast growing Asia.

The comments were made by Obama on the Spanish-language network Telemundo, at the same time that the White House was making an announcement about his second trip of his second term in office to Costa Rica and Mexico, following his visit earlier this month to Israel, Jordan and the West Bank.  The trip will take place between the 2nd and 4th of May and give the President the opportunity to meet with Central America’s leaders at Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla’s invitation.

Obama said that his government has done a great deal of work with the previous administration in Mexico based on issues such as security and the economy but that the relationship can sometimes be characterized as being solely about drug cartels or border security and there is much to the relationship, including commerce, energy and trade.  “We want to highlight some of the close cooperation that’s already been taking place and to continue to build on that so that we’re creating more jobs and more opportunities on both sides of the border.”

Mexico has been pushing for quick action when it comes to the issue of US immigration reform and Obama says that strengthening the cooperation between Central American and Caribbean partners is good for everyone concerned, resulting in fewer problems connected to unlawful immigration because of greater opportunities at home.