Cuaderno Latinoamericano - The Washington Post's Marcela Sanchez has a nice column giving some good perspective on why most of Latin America kept its distance from Washington in the war against Saddam's regime. She writes:

There are other convincing explanations for why so many remain outside the U.S.-led ranks. The history of U.S. interventions in the region remains fresh in their minds, and they are reluctant to support a U.S. foreign policy doctrine that ignores and threatens to undermine international organizations created to help preserve world peace and respect self-determination.

U.S. officials have accused some outside the coalition of weak leadership that preferred to let antiwar and anti-American feelings in their own countries guide their decisions. Sure, polls that showed 80 percent or more popular rejection to the war would have been difficult to ignore by any U.S. or foreign politician. Yet, standing up to a powerful and traditional ally like the United States is not precisely a sign of weakness.

The rest of her piece is just as good. Read it.