[speaker001:] well what do you know about Latin American policies
[speaker002:] well I think they're kind of ambivalent really uh I I just have a feeling that we've kind of talked out of both sides of mouths down there like we do in some other situations you know
[speaker001:] um-hum uh-huh
[speaker002:] we're we don't know half the time we don't know who to support
[speaker001:] are you uh relating this uh to the uh affair we've got going on in Haiti right now
[speaker002:] that and you know uh maybe it's maybe it's tough for a big powerful nation to deal with with uh countries like that that depend on us so much without you know just telling them running their country for them but
[speaker001:] right that that's just it
[speaker002:] it's got to be tough but I mean uh uh I'm you sure you still have to you know let them know how you feel
[speaker001:] right I guess my concern uh you know no matter which no matter which side we take we're gonna have supporters and we're gonna have uh antisupporters I guess for lack of better term and uh like you said they're such small countries that we're bound to upset somebody but we seem to be lacking the ability to take a stance
[speaker002:] yeah it it worries me that uh the economy of so many countries in in South America and Central America depend on something that that damages people like the you know like cocaine from Columbia and
[speaker001:] right right
[speaker002:] uh you know of course I I'm sure we have some enemies down there who would wouldn't care what happened to us but
[speaker001:] that's true
[speaker002:] but that is that's a tough deal and it I don't think that maybe I'm maybe it's you know I'm just reflecting how I feel about it but I have a feeling that we that we really don't understand basically the the the competing factions in a lot of those countries and I mean they've been hammering tongs for the last you know ten centuries
[speaker001:] sure
[speaker002:] and it's still going on and uh we we dabble in it just enough to make both sides angry at us I think sometimes
[speaker001:] that that's about the lump sum of it well um I was speaking with a a woman from uh uh I believe she was from the Honduras or Guatemala or somewhere in there no she was from El Salvador
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] and uh she was from a relatively wealthy family and when uh the Contras came into power of course with uh oh gosh darn it what's his face he's in in Florida jail now Marcos
[speaker002:] yeah yeah
[speaker001:] uh no he's Marcos is Philippines
[speaker002:] yeah um well I'm blank I can see his face I mean how could you forget his face
[speaker001:] well you know who I'm talking about yeah I I know it uh anyway when he came into power he basically just took everybody's property you know just assigned it to himself
[speaker002:] yeah kind of nationalized it
[speaker001:] right right and uh
[speaker002:] for himself
[speaker001:] so she's been a real strong supporter of the Sandinistas and has been trying to back the US government in that respect and I in that respect I have to agree that I think we're taking the right stance uh because they were a democracy
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] turned uh
[speaker002:] dictator yeah
[speaker001:] you know right basically a dictator fascist
[speaker002:] and it seems like those countries are so easily susceptible to that kind of thing it just
[speaker001:] sure
[speaker002:] you know unstable
[speaker001:] well what do you think of uh this uh US free trade agreement we're working on with Mexico
[speaker002:] well I think it's long overdue uh I just you know there's so much difference in in the economies of the two countries I I'm not you know I have a problem uh
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] with whether it's gonna work or not you know there's uh it seems like there's and I this may be unfair to Mexico but it seems like there's a lack of honesty in in in in foreign policy a lot of the times
[speaker001:] um-hum uh Mexico they're I I know they're trying they're really trying the Mexican government is trying and a lot of the larger Mexican businesses are trying to oh make themselves Americanized I guess
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] and uh which is great because that's what they basically need to do the big problem with the United States is we have our basic nine to five schedule you know and we don't have the Siesta and there's the cultural differences is what
[speaker002:] yeah yeah
[speaker001:] is what's kind of it's what's really hurting uh the Mexican the Mexican people because they've had their way of life and we've had our way of life and uh
[speaker002:] I think there's their version of the good old boy network going that uh you know has a lot