According to a White House statement, President Obama will visit four cities in Brazil, Chile and El Salvador from the 19 to the 23 of March this year. Despite the fact that the dates have not been announced yet, this was a further confirmation of the disclosure made by Obama in his State of the Union address in January 2011 in visiting Latin America to “forge new alliances across the Americas”.
The statement further revealed that the President’s visit would be to each of the capitals in the aforementioned countries including Rio de Janeiro located in Brazil as well, and the purpose of this visit would be to discuss security cooperation, economics and trade with both the leaders and citizens of these countries.
The trip will also provide an opportunity to emphasize the President’s involvement with South America but will also make an attempt to approach the common challenges faced by people living in the Americas as equal partners.
President Obama will meet the new President of Brazil, during a time when the country is known to be confrontational on issues such as nuclear proliferation, trade and climate change. After this visit will be the one to Chile, which is currently the largest trading partner of the United States in recent times.
Finally, the President will also visit El Salvador that will focus not only on international affairs but also domestic politics as the United States is home to one of the largest and fastest growing immigrant population from this country.