US President George W. Bush and his Democrat Party rival, John Kerry, need to pay more attention to Latin America in the long term, Argentine political analyst Rosendo Fraga said Monday.

Both politicians have shown little interest in Latin America, Fraga said. The US belligerent campaign in Iraq and Afghanistan justifies their indifference toward the Western Hemisphere.

Compared with Kerry, Bush showed even less interest in the region, the analyst added, because he has been absorbed in the anti-terrorism war.

"In the short run, they are both right. Latin America is not animmediate priority," Fraga said. But Bush and Kerry need to pay more attention to Latin America in the long term in view of a conflicting point on the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) that exits between several South American countries and the United States, while Latin America needs to approach the United States inthe short run in order to attain a sustaining growth.

Political analysts said Mexico, as a US trade partner and southern neighbor, is the only country to which the United States pays moderate attention.

The FTAA, based on a US-sponsored proposal, is designed to eliminate trade barriers across the American continent.

Source: Xinhua