June 26, 2009 9:43PM 

# Question Regarding Obama’s Signals Toward Latin America 

By [Juan Carlos Hidalgo](https://www.cato.org/people/juan-carlos-hidalgo) 

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How come President Obama can find time [to call and congratulate](https://www.cato.org/2009/06/11/obama-congratulates-correa/) Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa on his reelection (someone who has said that he prefers “a thousand times” to be a friend of Fidel Castro and Hugo Chávez than to be an ally of the United States) but [can’t find time to meet with, or at least issue a statement supporting, Cuban dissidents](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/24/AR2009062403267.html) at the White House as his predecessors did?

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[Defense and Foreign Policy](https://www.cato.org/defense-foreign-policy) 

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