Argentine warm-up: Obama and Macri set a course for better relations

President Barack Obama’s two-day visit last week to Argentina enabled him to boost new center-right President Mauricio Macri in the economic reforms he launched and improve perceptions of the United States in Latin America.

Improved ties with Argentina are part of a trend toward smoother relations with southern countries. Obama’s opening to Cuba in late 2014 and his visit there last week, plus the changes in Venezuela after the death of demagogue Hugo Chavez, the refusal by Bolivians in a referendum to give President Evo Morales a chance to become president-for-life and the smooth succession by Macri after November’s election might lead to welcome policy changes.

Obama and his family played well in Argentina, a nation of 41 million. He was the first U.S. president to have top-level talks with an Argentine leader in nearly 20 years. He welcomed Macri’s market-oriented changes, while steering clear of the messy scrap between Argentina and Wall Street hedge funds that grew out of the country’s $100 billion debt default in 2001.

Obama showed his usual cultural appreciation, dancing the tango and admiring the scenery in Patagonia.

Important to Argentinians still grieving the victims of the 1976-83 “dirty war” that claimed nearly 30,000 lives, Obama pledged to declassify U.S. military and intelligence documents. The records might shed light not only on the disappearance of so many, but on any involvement the U.S. had with Argentina’s brutal government of the time.

Argentina’s economic problems will not be easy for Macri to solve. Inflation could rise to about 33 percent and the country will continue to struggle to get past its longtime reputation for financial irresponsibility. Obama’s timely visit and his support of Macri’s new approach could help in the months ahead.

— Pittsburgh Post-Gazette