United States presidential visits to South America

The countries of South America and their capitals

Eleven United States presidents and one president-elect have made presidential visits to South America. The first trip was made by Herbert Hoover (as president-elect) in 1928. During this tour he delivered twenty-five speeches in ten Central and South American countries, almost all of which stressed his plans to reduce American political and military interference in Latin American affairs. In sum, he pledged that the United States would act as a "good neighbor."[1][2]

The first official visits by a sitting president were those of Franklin D. Roosevelt, and were an offshoot of Allied diplomatic interactions during World War II. Of the 12 independent countries on the continent, all but Bolivia, Guyana and Paraguay have been visited by an American president. Ecuador has only been visited by a president elect.

Table of visits

President Dates Countries Locations Key details
Herbert Hoover[3] December 1, 1928  Ecuador Guayaquil Met with President Isidro Ayora.[4]
December 5, 1928  Peru Lima Met with President Augusto B. Leguía.[4]
December 8–11, 1928  Chile Antofagasta, Santiago Met with President Carlos Ibáñez del Campo. Met with Bolivian diplomats to discuss the ongoing Tacna–Arica dispute.[4][5]
December 13–15, 1928  Argentina Buenos Aires Met with President Hipólito Yrigoyen.[6] Also reported to (U.S.) President Calvin Coolidge on the success of his tour via telegraph.[7]
December 16–18, 1928  Uruguay Montevideo Met with President Juan Campisteguy, and addressed the National Council of Administration.[4]
December 21–23, 1928  Brazil Rio de Janeiro Met with President Washington Luís; addressed the National Congress and the Supreme Federal Court.[8]
Franklin D. Roosevelt[9] July 10, 1934  Colombia Cartagena Informal visit en route to vacation in Hawaii.
November 27, 1936  Brazil Rio de Janeiro Addressed the National Congress of Brazil.
November 30 – December 2, 1936  Argentina Buenos Aires Attended session of Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Peace.
December 3, 1936  Uruguay Montevideo Official visit. Met with President Gabriel Terra.
January 12, 1943  Brazil Belém Overnight stop en route to Casablanca.
January 28, 1943 Natal Informal visit (following Casablanca Conference); met with President Getúlio Vargas.
Harry S. Truman[10] September 1–7, 1947 Rio de Janeiro State visit; addressed Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Continental Peace and Security and the Brazilian Congress.
Dwight D. Eisenhower[11] February 23–26, 1960 Brasília
Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo 		Met with President Juscelino Kubitschek and addressed Brazilian Congress.
February 26–29, 1960  Argentina Buenos Aires, Mar del Plata, San Carlos de Bariloche Met with President Arturo Frondizi.
February 29 –
March 2, 1960 		 Chile Santiago Met with President Jorge Alessandri.
March 2–3, 1960  Uruguay Montevideo Met with President Benito Nardone.
John F. Kennedy[12] December 16–17, 1961  Venezuela Caracas Met with President Rómulo Betancourt.
December 17, 1961  Colombia Bogota Met with President Alberto Lleras Camargo.
Lyndon B. Johnson[13] April 11–14, 1967  Uruguay Punta del Este Summit Meeting with Latin American Heads of State.
April 14, 1967  Suriname Paramaribo Refuelling stop en route from Uruguay.
Jimmy Carter[14] March 28–29, 1978  Venezuela Caracas Met with President Carlos Andrés Pérez. Addressed Congress and signed maritime boundary agreement.
March 29–31, 1978  Brazil Brasília, Rio de Janeiro Official visit; met with President Ernesto Geisel and addressed Brazilian Congress.
Ronald Reagan[15] November 30 –
December 3, 1982 		Brasilia, São Paulo Official working visit; met with President João Figueiredo.
December 3, 1982  Colombia Bogota Official Working Visit. Met with President Belisario Betancur.
George H. W. Bush[16] February 15, 1990 Cartagena Attended Summit Meeting on the control of illicit drug trafficking with President Virgilio Barco Vargas, Bolivian President Jaime Paz Zamora and Peruvian President Alan García.
December 3–4, 1990  Brazil Brasilia Met with President Fernando Collor de Mello and addressed a Joint Session of the Brazilian Congress.
December 4–5, 1990  Uruguay Montevideo Met with President Luis Alberto Lacalle. Addressed a Joint Session of the Uruguayan Congress.
December 5–6, 1990  Argentina Buenos Aires Met with President Carlos Menem and addressed a Joint Session of the Argentine National Congress.
December 6–7, 1990  Chile Santiago Met with President Patricio Aylwin and addressed a Joint Session of the Chilean National Congress.
December 7–8, 1990  Venezuela Caracas Met with President Carlos Andrés Pérez.
June 12–13, 1992  Brazil Rio de Janeiro Attended the Earth Summit meeting.
Bill Clinton[17] October 12–13, 1997  Venezuela Caracas Met with President Rafael Caldera.
October 13–15, 1997  Brazil Brasilia, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro Met with President Fernando Henrique Cardoso; delivered several public addresses
October 15–18, 1997  Argentina Buenos Aires, Bariloche Met with President Menem; delivered several public addresses.
April 16–19, 1998  Chile Santiago State visit. Attended the 2nd Summit of the Americas.
August 30, 1998  Colombia Cartagena Met with President Andrés Pastrana Arango.
George W. Bush[18] March 23–24, 2002  Peru Lima Met with the Presidents of Peru, Colombia, and Bolivia, and with the Vice President of Ecuador.
November 19–22, 2004  Chile Santiago Attended 16th APEC Summit.
November 22, 2004  Colombia Cartagena Met with President Álvaro Uribe.
November 3–5, 2005  Argentina Mar del Plata Attended 4th Summit of the Americas.
November 5–6, 2005  Brazil Brasilia Met with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
March 8–9, 2007 São Paulo Met with President Lula da Silva.
March 9–11, 2007  Uruguay Montevideo Met with President Tabaré Vázquez.
March 11, 2007  Colombia Bogota Met with President Álvaro Uribe.
November 21–23, 2008  Peru Lima Attended the APEC Summit Meeting.
Barack Obama March 19–21, 2011  Brazil Brasilia, Rio de Janeiro Met with President Dilma Rousseff.[19]
March 21–22, 2011  Chile Santiago Met with President Sebastián Piñera.[19]
April 13–15, 2012  Colombia Cartagena Attended the 6th Summit of the Americas.[19] Attended a leaders' dinner at the Castillo San Felipe de Barajas prior to the meeting.[20] Announced, along with President Juan Manuel Santos, that the United States–Colombia Free Trade Agreement would take effect May 15, 2012.[21]
March 23–24, 2016  Argentina Buenos Aires, Bariloche Official visit. Met with President Mauricio Macri. Laid a wreath at the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral.[22]
November 18–20, 2016  Peru Lima Attended the APEC Summit Meeting.
Donald Trump November 29 – December 1, 2018  Argentina Buenos Aires Attended the G20 summit.
Joe Biden November 14–17, 2024  Peru Lima Attended the APEC Summit Meeting.
November 17–19, 2024  Brazil Rio de Janeiro, Manaus Attended the G20 summit. It was the first time a sitting American president had visited the Amazon[23].

Travels of former presidents

Theodore Roosevelt

Further information: Roosevelt–Rondon Scientific Expedition

Theodore Roosevelt, along with Cândido Rondon, explorered the 1000-mile long "River of Doubt" (later renamed Rio Roosevelt) located in a remote area of the Amazon basin in 1913–14. Sponsored in part by the American Museum of Natural History, they also collected many new animal and insect specimens.[24]

Jimmy Carter

Jimmy Carter, along with Carter Center personnel, met with São Paulo Governor José Serra and former president Fernando Cardoso; received special human rights award; and met with a roundtable of preeminent business and financial leaders in São Paulo. Also met with President Lula da Silva, Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, and other Brazilian leaders in Brasilia, May 3–4, 2009.[25]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Herbert Hoover: Foreign Affairs". millercenter.org. Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia. Retrieved February 24, 2016.
  2. ^ Deconde, Alexander (March 1950). "Herbert Hoover's Good Will Tour". Historian. 12 (2): 167–181. doi:10.1111/j.1540-6563.1950.tb00106.x.
  3. ^ Travels of President Herbert C. Hoover U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian Archived 2011-10-16 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ a b c d Hoover, Herbert (1974). "Supplement IV – Addresses During a Trip to Central and South America". Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Herbert Hoover. Vol. 1. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office. pp. 615–642. Archived from the original on August 3, 2016. Retrieved May 31, 2016.
  5. ^ DeConde, Alexander (1951). Herbert Hoover's Latin-American Policy. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. p. 36. ISBN 9780804713436. Retrieved May 20, 2016.
  6. ^ Kinsley, Philip (December 15, 1928). "Silent Hoover Wins Argentine Man of Silence: President Irigoyen Made Friend of U. S." Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 1. ProQuest 180959992. Retrieved May 20, 2016.
  7. ^ "Good Will Tour Success, Hoover Wires Coolidge: Uses Direct Cable Line from Buenos Aires". Chicago Daily Tribune. December 16, 1928. p. 3. ProQuest 180956550. Retrieved May 20, 2016.
  8. ^ Jeansonne, Glen (2012). The Life of Herbert Hoover: Fighting Quaker, 1928-1933. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 44–45. ISBN 978-1-137-34673-5. Retrieved May 20, 2016.
  9. ^ Travels of President Franklin D. Roosevelt U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian Archived 2011-11-09 at the Wayback Machine
  10. ^ Travels of President Harry S. Truman U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian Archived 2011-11-09 at the Wayback Machine
  11. ^ Travels of President Dwight D. Eisenhower U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian Archived 2011-12-05 at the Wayback Machine
  12. ^ "Travels of President John F. Kennedy". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian.
  13. ^ Travels of President Lyndon B. Johnson U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian Archived 2011-12-18 at the Wayback Machine
  14. ^ Travels of President Jimmy Carter U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian Archived 2011-12-06 at the Wayback Machine
  15. ^ Travels of President Ronald Reagan U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian Archived 2011-11-09 at the Wayback Machine
  16. ^ Travels of President George H. W. Bush U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian Archived 2011-11-09 at the Wayback Machine
  17. ^ Travels of President Bill Clinton U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian Archived 2011-10-16 at the Wayback Machine
  18. ^ Travels of President George W. Bush U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian Archived 2011-10-16 at the Wayback Machine
  19. ^ a b c "Travels of President Barack Obama". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian.
  20. ^ "Barack Obama's bodyguards sent home from Colombia summit amid prostitution allegations". The Telegraph. London. April 14, 2012. Retrieved February 25, 2016.
  21. ^ Al Sema, Adriaan (April 15, 2012). "Obama, Santos confirm US-Colombia trade pact takes effect May 15". Colombia Reports. Retrieved February 25, 2016.
  22. ^ Lahrichi, Kamilla; Zoroya, Gregg (March 23, 2016). "Obama says top priority is to defeat Islamic State". USA Today. Retrieved July 16, 2017.
  23. ^ Ionova, Ana; Shear, Michael D. (2024-11-17). "Biden Visits Amazon, Vowing Help to Fight Climate Change". The New York Times.
  24. ^ Brooke, Michael (February 25, 1992). "In T. R.'s Footsteps, Scientists Embark on Amazonian Expedition". The New York Times.
  25. ^ "Trip Report by Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter to Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil: April 27–May 5, 2009". cartercenter.org. Atlanta, Georgia: The Carter Center.