OAS

Democracy cannot just be, it must do. And when it comes to Latin American democracies, they must do a lot more.

That is the overarching conclusion of a report released October 12 by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Organization of American States. The authors applaud the nearly universal adoption of democracy and the peaceful transfer of power in the region for more than 20 years.

U.S. policy toward Latin America is suffering from a lack of experience at the top. Neither President Obama nor Vice President Biden or anyone in the cabinet could honestly be considered a Latin Americanist. And Arturo Valenzuela, Obama's nominee for assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs -- the top diplomatic post in the region -- remains unconfirmed, the victim of a Republican senator's cheap political maneuvering.

Just seven years ago, the U.S. government would not acknowledge that forcefully removing a democratically elected president at gunpoint constituted a coup. In April 2002, the White House referred to the military-led toppling of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez as merely a "change of government" and failed to condemn the act.

At the Summit of the Americas in April, President Obama made it clear he believes U.S.-Cuba relations can move "in a new direction." The United States and the rest of the Western Hemisphere, he argued, must leave behind the "false choice" between complete isolation through a 47-year-old embargo or open engagement, which would coddle a dictator.

The countries need a third option, and Obama's vision provides a welcome alternative to the current situation: divided opinions in the hemisphere and no change on the island.