The Company We Keep
The Company We Keep
COA Vice President Eric Farnsworth writes that Iran's deepening ties with some Latin American nations could have destabilizing consequences. But he emphasizes that Iran's foray into the Americas serves as an opportunity for nations of the Western Hemisphere to work together in support of democratic principles.
Iran’s President Ahmadinejad made at least two startling assertions during his travel to New York in late September for the General Assembly of the United Nations: More “research” needs to be done to ensure that the Holocaust actually happened, and there are no homosexuals in Iran. Immediately thereafter, he flew to Bolivia and Venezuela, where, despite his comments in New York and others made earlier, he received a hero’s welcome according to observers and was embraced by President Hugo Chávez as “one of the great fighters for true peace.” Neither George Orwell nor the magical realists could have set the scene any better.
But before we either laugh or brush off Ahmadinejad’s most recent jaunt through Latin America as an insignificant display of misplaced eye-poking by global political wannabes, we should recognize that Iran’s aggressive move into Latin America, midwifed by Venezuela and enabled by Bolivia, Ecuador, and Nicaragua, has potentially significant implications. Whatever the true intentions of Iran in the Western Hemisphere, there can be little doubt that Iranian influence is potentially destabilizing. It is also, surely, unwelcome, and addressing it will be a challenge to the relevance and effectiveness of the inter- American system.
Anti-democratic factions in Latin America are on the rise and could be influenced by Iran and It is no news by this point that despite the adoption of the Democracy Clause by hemispheric acclamation during a meet- ing of the OAS in Lima on September 11, 2001, the institutions of democracy in Latin America nonetheless can be—and in some cases have been—marshaled to support authoritarian tendencies. Whether it is rewriting national constitutions to satisfy the political ends of leaders, targeting organs of the press which may not toe the party line, intimidating opposition leaders or using economic levers to pressure private interests, anti-democratic actions are not yet extinct. In some nations, such actions are actually increasing.
This would be bad enough if it stopped there, but nations that disrespect democratic principles in the Americas tend also to be nations that offer aid and comfort to global actors who reject the norms of the international system. The various nations in the Americas seeking closer ties with Iran—an internationally identified state sponsor of global-reach terrorism—are just the latest case in point. In the past year alone, President Ahmadinejad has traveled three times to Venezuela, and once each to Bolivia, Ecuador, and Nicaragua. Venezuela’s President Chávez has traveled three times to Tehran since 2005. During his latest visit, in July, President Chávez was awarded Iran’s highest state medal for supporting Iran in its nuclear standoff with the international community. The Venezuelan president also took the occasion to call for the destruction of the United States, while condemning Israel for terrorism, according to the Associated Press. Not to be outdone in the medals race, Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega has given his Iranian counterpart not one, but two state medals.
We are known by the company we keep, so it can’t be a good sign—for democracy, development, or hemispheric relations—that several Latin leaders are keeping close company with Iran.
And deeds are following words. President Chávez has brokered trade and investment deals between Iran and Latin America totaling well over $20 billion. Even if the full potential of the deals remains unfulfilled, this represents a significant economic re-alignment in the Americas, and it has broad political implica- tions. Iran is now the second largest investor in Venezuela. Heretofore unheard of direct air links between Caracas and Tehran have been established, and Iran has beefed up its dip- lomatic representation throughout the region. Surely this is not to offer consular services to the Iranian Diaspora in Latin America.
Why should it matter? After all, Iran is a sovereign state, as are the nations of the Americas, and if Iran wants to trade with and invest in Latin America, why should we be concerned? There are several reasons. Lest we forget, in addition to his recent per- formance in New York, Iran’s leader has also spoken against the right of Israel to exist. Iranian agents have been implicated in the bombings in Argentina of the Israeli Embassy and the AMIA Jewish cultural center in the early 1990s, the only act of global terrorism in the Western Hemisphere prior to that visited upon the United States on September 11, 2001. Iran-backed Hezbollah agents remain active in the region in such areas as raising funds for extra-legal activities in the Middle East. More generally, Venezuela in particular has unhelpfully stood firm with Iran at the International Atomic Energy Agency, joining Syria and Cuba in providing political cover to the Iranian regime to pursue an active nuclear enrichment program. These are not solely Latin America issues; they are global security issues, worrisome trends that point to an emerging dilemma for the hemisphere. The active cheerleading of various Latin American nations and the acquiescence of others can only encourage the Iranians in their efforts.
Several steps should be considered by the leaders of the Americas in response. In the first instance, democracy itself should be reinforced, because healthy democracies in Latin America tend to support patterns of responsible hemispheric behavior. Democratic governance, and the institutions of democracy, must continue to be nurtured as a top priority for hemispheric institutions such as the Organization of American States and the Inter-American Development Bank.
Individual nations including Brazil and Argentina can play a significant leadership role in addressing these matters, as well. Brazil was in the lead immediately after 9/11 in working with the OAS to condemn the attacks on the United States, and therefore has history and credibility on these matters. More to the point, Brazil also offers a rare example of a nation that, by voluntarily giving up its nuclear program, literally turned swords into plowshares, while also re-making its space-launch program for commercial purposes. As Iran’s nuclear ambitions continue, active partnership with Brazil within the International Atomic Energy Agency could directly assist the effort to deny nuclear weapons to Iran. For its part, Argentina is still working to bring to justice those who committed the atrocities against the Jewish community in the early 1990s, and this will continue to be a matter of high interest even as the new president invests La Casa Rosada in Buenos Aires. With creativity and deft diplomacy, both could be potential hemispheric partners in dealing with Iran.
In fact, the United States would be well-served to work with these and other nations in the hemisphere to achieve our security goals, recognizing that a unilateral approach or the application of blunt policy instruments could well backfire. We must ensure that the United States itself does not become the target or shift the hemispheric gaze away from the actual threat. True partnership is the key. Designating and confirming a top tier US Ambassador to the OAS—a position that has remained vacant since the end of 2006—would be an important and logical place to begin, especially if we expect the OAS to take up these issues in any meaningful way.
Ultimately, though, Iran’s foray into the Americas can also be viewed as an opportunity. It is an opportunity for the nations of the Americas to stand together for democratic principles and to reject behavior by those either within the region or without, that is, outside responsible hemispheric norms. Within that context, it becomes a test of the strength of democratic values and of the inter-American system as a whole. It is a test which cannot easily be ignored.
