to United States foreign policy. Due to its close proximity to the United States, many events that

occur in Latin America directly influence the United States everyday life. Over the next few

years, I believe that America needs to make several issues a priority towards Latin America. Most importantly, I believe that the United States needs to continue their support of the Colombian government. For many years now, America has declared a war on drugs, and for the most part, Colombia is root of this problem. Secondly, the U.S. needs to work on an agreement with Mexico concerning illegal immigration into the U.S. These illegal immigrants are not only hurting our economy, but also effecting the citizens in the areas of high concentration of illegal immigrants. Finally, I believe that the United States needs to try to improve their relationship with Venezuela and Hugo Chavez. It is important that we improve trading relations with Venezuela, but also try to make sure that his Fifth Republic Movement does not become too autocratic.

Before America's war on terrorism, the United States had decided to declare

eliminated the law preventing immediate reelection. I see a man who is turning Venezuela into a personal dictatorship, much like his close friend Fidel Castro. He has continually thumbed his nose at the United States, by visiting Iraq, Iran, and Libya. He backed this up by saying "Imagine what the pharisees will say when they see me Saddam Hussein." Unfortunately for us, there is not much we can do. We depend greatly on Venezuela for oil, and as problems persist in the Middle East, they may become a more important trading partner everyday. As he increases the scope of the military, we should be reminded of his actions in the past. A former military Colonel himself, he led an unsuccessful bloody coup in 1992. He is a man that should not be treated lightly. He may claim democracy, but the evidence is showing that he is certainly not that. As he is enshrined on posters and television, let us be reminded on how long it may take to fix this country after he is finished. That is why I believe we must try and increase our relations with other oil producing countries, so we may at least have some leverage to go by if Hugo Chavez someday goes haywire. We do not want our oil and gasoline prices to sky rocket again if controversy develops with Venezuela. In all, I believe that he is leading Venezuela down a long road, and that it may be a long time until they recover from the aftermath's of Hugo Chavez.

In conclusion, I have listed the three issues that I believe should be made a priority in the United States foreign policy towards Latin America in the near future. I have given some strategies on how to go about these issues, but in actuality no one really knows what will be the best ways to deal with these issues in the future. We learn by our mistakes, and even though the drug war may never be one, we must at least give it our best shot unless we want to be facing drug legalization in the future. Illegal Immigration is another tough problem to solve but with persistence, we might be able to conquer it. Finally, the saga of Hugo Chavez will be interesting to watch as it unravels over the next fe

Some topics in this essay:
Latin America, Statue Liberty, Texas California, Hugo Chavez, Middle East, Plan Colombia, Republic Movement, Constituent Assembly, Vietnam America, Noriega Panama, illegal immigrants, hugo chavez, latin america, near future, tremendous amount, towards latin america, believe united, immigrants enter, colombian government, towards latin, close friends, illegal immigrants enter, united foreign policy, immigrants enter country,