Santos was basically faced with a choice of continuing to do Washington's bidding or being part of South America. He chose South America. The key role of commerce here, as South America continues to integrate economically, illustrates some of the most important "gains from trade." These are far greater than the neoclassical "efficiency gains," often exaggerated by advocates of "free trade" agreements.

Also, Santos' choice to rejoin South America shows how geopolitical changes led by the left governments of the region have now encompassed even right-wing governments. This is a result of changes in institutions (foreign ministries, multilateral organizations such as UNASUR, the Rio Group), ideas, and norms that have taken place over the last decade.

Now comes Washington, demanding that Colombia extradite one Walid Makled, an accused Venezuelan narco-trafficker arrested in Colombia, to the United States. No thank you, says President Santos – this guy goes to Venezuela. Santos cites Colombian law, stating that (1) Colombia has an extradition treaty with Venezuela, not with the United States; (2) Venezuela got their extradition request in first and (3) Makled is wanted for more serious crimes (including murder) in Venezuela than in the US (drug trafficking). All of these are facts that legally require extradition of Makled to Venezuela.

This is most infuriating to Washington. To understand why this is so important to the State Department, one has to look behind official pronouncements about Makled getting "a fair trial" in Venezuela and other nonsense repeated with charming innocence in the major media. Venezuela has a presidential election next year. For every important election or referendum in Venezuela – and there are many, but none more important to Washington than this one – there is an international media campaign, with the participation of the US government. (A recent Wikileaks cable shows the Colombian government sharing with US officials its coordinated media campaign to link both Chávez and Correa to the Colombian FARC guerrillas.) Makled has already offered to sing about alleged corruption of Venezuelan officials, but only if he is extradited to the United States. So if they could just get him to Miami, they could have a splendid show trial that would be better than any international media campaign that the State Department could organize.

If all that seems like it's not worth the trouble, it's exactly what happened in 2008. US authorities used a sketchy show trial of a Venezuelan slapped with dubious "failing to register as a foreign agent" – not actual espionage – charges to broadcast allegations of corruption at the "highest levels" of the Venezuelan government. The allegations made headlines throughout the hemisphere, and of course were a mainstay of the Venezuelan opposition-dominated media. Just think what the Makled trial could do: no one would ask what the witnesses were offered for their testimony, or whether there was any corroborating evidence for their allegations. It would be one big free-for-all smear-fest, with reporters gobbling it all up.

But Santos is not co-operating, despite enormous pressure and of course the currently pending "free-trade" agreement between the US and Colombia. Perhaps Washington wants this agreement more than he does.

In any case, the Obama administration – like its predecessor – is fighting a losing battle. President Obama's recent trip to Latin America was hardly more successful than those of Bush. He gets better press – no riots in the streets or Mayan leaders cleansing the site after his visit. But every president and foreign minister can see that the policies haven't changed one bit.

This post was first published by The Guardian Unlimited (UK) on April 8, 2011.

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