US Nobel Krugman Sees Brazil and LatAm Changed Relations with Obama

US Nobel Krugman Sees Brazil and LatAm Changed Relations with Obama
Written by Newsroom
Tuesday, 21 October 2008

US economy Nobel laureate Paul Krugman anticipated that relations between the United States and Brazil and its Latin American neighbors will change significantly if the Democratic candidate Barack Obama is elected president in two weeks time.

Interviewed by Chile's La Tercera, and asked specifically about changes to future relations with the region if a Democrat reaches the White House, Mr. Krugman said "Yes. (President) Bush antagonized some governments. Governments which were not necessarily the most desirable, but had been voted in and with which we had to have an understanding."

Krugman also described the strategy from the current US administration towards certain countries in Latin America as rather candid. "The idea that democracy will always come up with desirable governments for us is rather candid and you can't build foreign policy on those foundations," said Krugman who is a regular columnist for The New York Times

A long time critic of President Bush and his policies, Krugman admits having defended the elected government of Venezuela's president Hugo Chavez when he was about to be ousted by a civilian-military coup six years ago.

"What I did was to denounce the coup attempt in Venezuela in 2002. These types of actions belong to the past and only generate us enemies, besides the fact that Mr. Chavez has proven to be a classical populist," argued Krugman.

Read more: http://www.brazzilmag.com/content/view/10062 /

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