President Barack Obama visited Chile on Monday on a trip to reassert US influence in Latin America even as he tried to sell his decision to press military strikes against Libya's Muammar Gaddafi. Following his weekend visit to Latin America's economic powerhouse Brazil, Obama was to lay out his vision for deeper political, trade and investment ties with the region.
He was also expected to hail Chile's transition from military rule to stable democracy as a model for Libya and other countries in the Arab world, which is being swept by popular rebellions against autocratic rule. The fierce air assault by US and European forces on Gaddafi's loyalists in Libya has overshadowed Obama's Latin America trip.
He is struggling to balance his handling of world crises, including US military intervention in a third Muslim country, with his domestic priorities of jobs and the economy considered crucial to his 2012 re-election chances. Latin America was optimistic when Obama took office in 2009 he would give the region the respect it feels it deserves due to its strong economic performance. But two years later there is a sense that relations have been neglected while Obama battles urgent domestic challenges and foreign wars.
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