My fellow Americans

According to Stuart Grudgings, reporting for Reuters on November 5, Obama "also voiced support for US ally Colombia when it launched a military raid against guerrilla forces camped inside neighbouring Ecuador in March even though it was condemned by many Latin American governments".

Following the Colombia-Ecuador and Venezuela crises, right-wing opposition groups attempted to violently disrupt - if not overthrow - the leftist Morales Government in Bolivia in September. South American countries took an unprecedented move and met under the banner of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), sidestepping the Organisation of American States (OAS) - traditionally the forum to resolve such disputes and historically heavily influenced by the US.

With Venezuela often at the helm, many Latin America countries are pushing for their continued economic and political integration. Like its Republican predecessor, the new Obama administration will not be able to ignore this challenge to Washington's traditional role in the region. Organisations like UNASUR and the Bank of the South (Banco del Sur), a joint South American venture aimed at withstanding the influences of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), are a reality.

Several countries in the region are also calling for the establishment of a unified currency to challenge the US greenback. Although falling oil prices have put a dent into Chávez's funding plans for these projects, many social movements and governments are still committed to seeing the region unified in a similar manner to the European Union, albeit with a much more radical socio-political agenda.

While not explicitly acknowledging these trends, Obama made it clear in his Miami speech that he would only be talking to some Latin American leaders, hardly a show of support for regional unity. Through an initiative called the Energy Partnership for the Americas, Obama stated that he intended to "establish a program for the Department of Energy" with US "laboratories to share technology with countries across the region".

He added: "We'll assess the opportunities and risks of nuclear power in the hemisphere by sitting down with Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Chile. This is a unique role that the United States can play. We can offer more than the tyranny of oil."

The comment on the "tyranny of oil" was, of course, aimed at Venezuela.

Though some of his speech may have been designed to placate his right-wing Cuban Miami audience, Obama's remarks on a possible US-led proliferation of nuclear power in the region do not seem responsible. In November - and most likely in response to the Obama initiative - Chávez and Russian president Dimitri Medvedev signed a co-operation accord whereby Moscow will aid Caracas in developing nuclear power for peaceful purposes - or so they claim.

Whether an Obama administration will be able to deflate the hopes of many Latin American countries for regional unification remains to be seen. In the current parlous financial climate, the actions of the US in the region may be limited, although organisations like UNASUR and the Bank of the South have not yet been consolidated to their full potential.

Reflecting on Obama's victory, Rafael Correa - president of Ecuador and a strong ally of Venezuela - summarised these issues succinctly. With the Democrats in power, Correa said he expected relations between the US and Latin America to improve. His real dream? That one day "Latin America really doesn't have to worry about who is the president of the United States because it is sovereign and autonomous enough to stand on its own two feet".