The extent to which events in Libya have overshadowed President Barack Obama's Latin America tour can't be overstated. With the U.S. president in El Salvador today after previous stops in Brazil and Chile, there's a good deal of speculation about why he decided to press forward with the trip rather than reschedule.
Many believe the tour is a "move to counteract the rising influence of China, which is in the midst of an unprecendented energy grab in the oil- and mineral-rich region," according to a report in the Christian Science Monitor, which asserted that "the Chinese yuan is contesting U.S. hegemony by funding stadiums and dams and investing billions in strategic sectors."
While Geoff Thale, the program director at the Washington Office on Latin America, agrees that China's presence in Latin America is growing, particularly as a player in the regional energy market, he believes it's "an overstatement" to say China is fully overpowering the U.S. in the region.