Rice Preaches Democracy

CBS News Reporter Charles Wolfson is a former Tel Aviv bureau chief for CBS News, who now covers the State Department.

In Bogota, after meeting with President Uribe and his top officials, Rice said she had "a chance to discuss the region" and to describe "the kind of hemisphere we want to see ... where there is a commitment to transparency, to accountability, to the strengthening of democratic institutions and to fight corruption."

This has become standard phraseology for Rice almost everywhere she goes. She has used this or similar language in Europe, South Asia and now South America, and one of the administration's highest priorities is to bring democracy to the Middle East. The message clearly is one they want to encourage in their own back yard.

Rice's remarks in Brasilia, where she began her current trip, sounded the same themes. "These three principles — security, prosperity and dignity — are essential to the health of all democracies. And Latin American democracies are securing these principles for their people." Rice knows the struggle is hard and often her remarks are intended to buck up those who are not seeing the fruits of democracy.

Venezuela, where President Hugo Chavez has abandoned some democratic principles, and Ecuador, where the elected president recently fled into exile in Brazil, are just two examples in the region where democratic progress has run into problems. In her Brasilia speech Rice's message was one of positive reinforcement: "Do not lose hope. Do not lose your courage. And most of all, do not turn back now. The answers are to be found in more democratic reform, not less. In time, the blessings of democracy come to everyone who keeps faith with the principles of democracy."
The issue of how to handle Venezuela's anti-American leader (who is close to Cuba's Fidel Castro) has become something of a thorn to Rice. Reporters keep raising it and one, saying he wanted "to ask the question in a provocative way," asked her if the Bush administration was "ducking a fight with Chavez." Rice, with a clear nod to the obvious, always tries to keep her message upbeat. "It is well known that we have concerns about the Venezuelan government's activities in this region that can be destabilizing, and the Venezuelan government's activities at home which call into question its commitment to democracy," Rice said. "But this is not a trip about Venezuela. It is a trip about the future of this hemisphere." Then it was off to the topics Rice wants to focus on — trade, economic growth and further steps of democratic reform. As if to de-emphasize Venezuela's importance, a senior State Department official traveling with Rice told reporters "Venezuela is not a particularly good example of a democracy."

In Santiago, Chile, she set the tone in her opening remarks that simply electing leaders in a democratic manner is not enough. "To strengthen democratic principles, all free nations must demand that leaders who are elected democratically have a responsibility to govern democratically. Abandoning the rule of law for the whim of rulers only leads to the oppression of innocent people," Rice told the gathering of leaders representing about 100 countries that count themselves as democratically ruled.

Officials see a need in this hemisphere to build on the democratic base already established throughout the region. Rice often points out only one country — Cuba — does not have a seat at the Organization of American States, the regional assembly which often handles disputes arising in the hemisphere.

So it's not so much a matter of bringing democracy to countries which don't have it, it's more a case of encouraging them, helping them face new challenges and working with them to prevent a slide back to the autocratic rule of military juntas which were commonplace just a dew short years ago.

The effort Rice is making has many purposes, but not least among them is keeping those nations closest to America's borders under the rule of leaders who govern in a manner as close to their neighbors to the North as possible.
By Charles M. Wolfson