Uruguay

Uruguayan president Tabare Vazquez met with President Bush yesterday. Vazquez is part of the left-ward shift in South America. The talks yesterday involved free-trade discussions. The US is Uruguay's biggest trade partner.

The topic will be one of increasing importance, as leftist governments continue to push policies not always in line with US goals.

For instance, Bolivia recently announced it was nationalizing its natural gas industry.

Uruguay is a founding member of Mercosur, a free-trade alliance that includes Argentina and Brazil. However, Uruguay is in a bitter dispute with Argentina over pulp mills, and Uruguay is contemplating leaving the alliance.

As a side note, I noticed an interesting dichotomy in the State Dept's information on Uruguay. On its background page about Uruguay, the State Dept says this about Uruguay's coooperation in the war on terrorism:

Uruguay cooperates with the U.S. on law enforcement matters such as regional efforts to fight drug trafficking and terrorism. It has also been very active in human rights issues.

However, in the recently released 2005 Report on Terrorism (PDF), the State Dept said this:

The Government of Uruguay allocates insufficient resources and lacks the political will to play a more significant role in the global war on terrorism.

Most Uruguayans, including officials responsible for counterterrorism and emergency
preparedness, do not believe terrorism will ever directly affect Uruguay. Newly inaugurated President Tabare Vazquez resumed diplomatic relations with Cuba -- a U.S. - designated state sponsor of terrorism -- that the previous government had severed. Uruguay maintains diplomatic and commercial relations with Iran -- another state sponsor of terrorism -- and reacted slowly to the Iranian president’s statements calling for Israel's destruction.