Ready, Aim, Foreign Policy!

The Defense Department's leadership of foreign military aid and training programs is increasing. The State Department, which once had sole authority to direct and monitor such programs, is ceding control. Moreover, changes to the U.S. military's geographic command structure could grant the military a greater role in shaping, and becoming the face of, U.S. foreign policy where it counts--on the ground.

Congress and the next adminsitration have the power to reverse this trend. This report includes policy recommendations that would help reassert the guiding role of the State Department, Congress and the public over this important aspect of foreign policy. Unless we wish to see our military become even more prominently in the face of U.S. foreign policy abroad, now is the time to act.

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The Forgotten Border: Migration & Human Rights
at Mexico's Southern Border

The nature of transborder migration and human rights violations against migrants at Mexico’s southern border has received scant attention in comparison with the intense focus on the contentious U.S.-Mexico border. LAWGEF’s new report sheds light on the abuse and exploitation experienced by too many transmigrants as they journey northward, as well as trends in Mexico’s rhetoric and practices regarding immigration and border enforcement policies.

In the coming year, the U.S. Congress will consider giving $1 billion in assistance to Mexico as part of the “Merida Initiative.” As programs in this aid package are framed as support for human interdiction, border security and law enforcement activities, it is critical that policymakers and advocates gain a clearer understanding of the broader context in which human rights abuses take place in Mexico’s southern border region to ensure that U.S. policy, and in particular, the Merida Initiative, does not aggravate a precarious situation any further.

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Love, Loss and Longing: the Impact of U.S. Travel
Policy on Cuban-American Families

Love, Loss and Longing: the Impact of U.S. Travel Policy on Cuban-American Families is the publication of a joint LAWGEF and WOLA photo exhibit highlighting the cruel effect of the travel ban on Cuban Americans. The photo exhibit was shown in over 20 cities throughout the United States and the stories of family separation U.S. policy caused touched countless Americans. Drs. Jeanne Lemkau and David Strug have interviewed and chronicled the heart-breaking stories of 20 Cuban Americans who have been unable to see their families. The photographs are the work of two talented Cuban-American photographers, Nestor Hernandez, Jr. and Juan E. Gonzalez Lopez.

The book is dedicated to the memory of Nestor Hernández, Jr., who passed away the day after the photo exhibit opened on Capitol Hill.

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Below the Radar: U.S. Military Programs with Latin America, 1997-2007

Ten years ago, the Latin America Working Group Education Fund (LAWGEF), the Center for International Policy (CIP), and the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) launched a project to monitor U.S. military programs in Latin America. The project began out of concern that poor access to information made public and congressional oversight of such programs impossible. A myriad of funding mechanisms and programs presented a complex picture, and limited information was provided through a haphazard series of reports mandated by Congress. Today, the funding mechanisms and programs have only grown more numerous and complex, but some improvements in transparency have made it possible for a clearer picture to emerge.

This year Below the Radar presents a summary of major trends over the past ten years, rather than the annual analysis usually provided. The joint LAWGEF, WOLA, and CIP database on U.S. military programs in the region, drawn entirely from official U.S. government sources, which backs up this analysis, is available at www.ciponline.org/facts.

Why does having a clear picture of military aid programs matter? Military training and aid, even in peacetime, is not incidental to foreign policy and the U.S. image abroad. The relative balance and visibility of economic or military aid to a country affects public perceptions about the way the United States chooses to project its power. In addition, the choice to fund, train and equip foreign militaries is perceived as a U.S. endorsement of those militaries.

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Retreat from Reason: U.S.-Cuban Academic Relations and the Bush Administration

Retreat from Reason, written by an international team of U.S. and Cuban scholars, examines the history of and regulations on academic, scientific, and cultural exchange between the United States and Cuba. The report demonstrates that in spite of the U.S. embargo on Cuba, the continued relationship between U.S. and Cuban scholars over the past 40 years which has contributed to a greater understanding between our two peoples.

However, President Bush's Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba's recommendations to sharply curtail academic and educational exchange has interrupted these relationships and benefits. The report recommends a return to full academic relations between the United States and Cuba because of the powerful role academic and educational exchange play in relieving international conflicts and tensions.

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Longing for Home: Return of Land to Colombia's Internally Displaced Population

As some 30,000 paramilitaries are demobilized in Colombia, little discussion has taken place about what will happen to the land they stole through violence. LAWGEF's new report, Longing for Home, calls for steps to return land to its original owners and provide other assistance to Colombia's massive internally displaced population. September 2006.

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Latin America’s tilt to the left has been used to explain a surge in “anti-American” sentiment. Tarnished Image: Latin America Perceives the United States locates a major source of this sentiment instead in recent U.S. policies to which Latin American publics, leaders and press are reacting. Our new report examines Latin American press coverage lamenting the Bush Administration’s choice to disregard international human rights standards and international mechanisms of cooperation. Unbudging U.S. support for trade policies that fail to deliver equitable development and hardening immigration policies also widen the gap between the United States and Latin America. 2006.

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Erasing the Lines

Erasing the Lines documents current trends in U.S. military programs with Latin America that blur the distinction between civilian and military roles and increase the Pentagon’s control over foreign military training. December 2005.

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Presione aquí para español
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Click here to see remarks by LAWGEF's Executive Director

Scapegoats of Juárez: The misuse of justice in proscuting women's murders in Chihuahua, Mexico

This new publication details the history of the 410
women who have been murdered in Cuidad Juarez
and Chihuahua City since 1993. The Mexican
Government's failure to bring the perpetrators to
justice is examined through an in depth look at the
victims and the circumstances of their deaths, the
court cases, and those charged with the
crimes. Finally, the report makes recommendations
for officials on both sides of the border for bringing
the guilty parties to justice.

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Blueprint for a New Colombia Policy

This publication presents a positive set of recommendations on how to improve U.S. policy towards Colombia. At the expiration of the original six-year Plan Colombia, the Blueprint urges the U.S. government to take a tougher stance on human rights, prioritize social aid rather than limitless military assistance, and urge peace negotiations with truth, justice, and reparations for victims.

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September's Shadow

This new publication examines how the U.S. response to 9/11 has affected U.S. - Latin American relations. Using polls, op-eds, aid trends, and case studies of Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Bolivia and Cuba, the report details the fallout of the Bush Administration's foreign policy as well as Latin American governments' cooperation on practical counterterrorism measures.

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Blurring the Lines: Trends in U.S. Military and Training Programs in Latin America

Our latest analysis of military training and aid trends shows that: the number of Latin American troops trained by the United States jumped 52% in one year and U.S. training increasingly blurs the line between military and civilian roles. This short, graph-filled publication gives you a snapshot of U.S. military programs in the hemisphere. (LAWGEF/CIP/WOLA publication)

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Ignored Majority: The Moderate Cuban-American Community

By Philip Schmidt, Latin America Working Group Education Fund

70% of Cuban Americans feel misled by politicians on Cuba policy, 55% want a change in policy—toward a more moderate strategy. Their voices are being ignored by politicians with a different agenda – one created by hardliners. The majority of the Cuban- American community is in favor of dialogue between the two nations, easing travel restrictions, and rethinking the failed strategy of the embargo.

The younger generation of Cuban Americans and recent immigrants now make up more than half of the Cuban-American community and their views are different from the old guard. Many of them agree with Cuban dissident Osvaldo Payá, that waiting for Fidel Castro to die before promoting a positive relationship with the Cuban people is counterproductive.

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Going to Extremes: The Aerial Spraying Program in Colombia

by Betsy Marsh

This just-published comprehensive report examines the US-funded aerial spraying program to eradicate coca production in Colombia. The report concurs that addressing drug abuse in the United States is a laudable goal. However, it suggests that this controversial strategy has harsh human and environmental costs, while doing little to curb drug abuse in the United States.

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The Wrong Road

The Wrong Road outlines Colombian President Alvaro Uribe's controversial security policies. These include permitting police and army to search homes and offices, tap phones and detain people without warrants, suspending basic civil liberties in war zones, and employing armed civilians as soldiers and informants.

These measures "set the stage for an increase in human rights violations, while providing none of the safeguards--respect for the rule of law, civilian oversight, ensuring that military forces understand and embrace their duty to protect all citizens rather than a privileged few--that are the foundation of real security." July 2003

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We will be known by the company
we keep. Author Hugh Byrne draws upon the experience of US Cold War policy in Latin America to offer eight simple lessons for the United States in the war on terrorism. These include:

• We will be known by the company we keep: If we keep company with dictators and unsavory regimes, we will become associated with them in the eyes of the world.
• Don’t turn a blind eye to human rights violations.
• Investing in people helps cut terror at the roots. While tough law enforcement is essential, the most sustainable means to combat broader support for terrorist activities is to address the condition that help foster it—poverty and undemocratic and repressive regimes.

A useful tool for classes & activities exploring the post-9/11 world. 2002.

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Blunt Instrument: The United States’
Punitive Fumigation Program in Colombia explores the controversial aerial spraying program to destroy drug crops. Using the lens of congressional legislation intended to ensure that the program did not unduly harm small farm families, the study finds that the US and Colombian governments have failed to compensate farmers whose food crops are mistakenly destroyed by fumigation; that crops substitution programs have been sprayed; that emergency food aid is not provided. Moreover, the study by Lisa Haugaard finds that crop substitution programs are offered to only a small fraction of the farmers affected by fumigation. October 2002.

This report is sold out; please print out from web.

Troubling Patterns: The Mexican
Military and the War on Drugs. Author Laurie Freeman examines the human rights impact of the Mexican military’s growing role in the war on drugs. By analyzing 27 cases of human rights violations committed by the Mexican military during anti-drug activities, this study identifies distinct patters of military abuse in carrying out counternarcotics missions. These include arrests without warrants, fabricating evidence, holding detainees in secret, prolonged detention, and torture. The study has important implications for US policy, which has promoted an expanding role for the Mexican military in law enforcement functions.

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Monitoring Military Aid

Just the Facts: A civilian’s guide to U.S. defense and security assistance to Latin America and the Caribbean is the most complete, authoritative information publicly available on U.S. military aid and training programs to all countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Since 1998, the Latin America Working Group and the Center for International Policy have produced this comprehensive guide based completely on official U.S. government information. It is available primarily as a web site, updated regularly: www.ciponline.org/facts

This source is a useful tool for scholars, activists and citizens worldwide seeking greater knowledge of the United States’ security activities in the Western Hemisphere. This project has also helped congressional committees conduct oversight of US military activities and has helped to promote transparency and civilian control over military programs. Thanks to the Ford Foundation, the Open Society Institute and the Compton Foundation for their support for this project.

Several publications are also available:

Just the Facts 2001-2002. A 16-page summary of trends in US military aid & training to Latin America and the Caribbean. For a copy of this publication, click here.

Just the Facts 2000-2001. A 100-page book detailing US military aid & training to the region. $10 including shipping and handling. For a copy of this publication, click here.

Just the Facts 1999. An earlier edition, a 250-page book detailing US military aid & training programs to the region. For a copy of this publication, click here.

Declassified Army and CIA Manuals Used in Latin America: An Analysis of Their Content

On September 20, 1996, the Pentagon released to the public seven training manuals prepared by the U.S. military and used between 1987 and 1991 for intelligence training courses in Latin America and at the U.S. Army School of the Americas (SOA). A selection of excerpts was distributed to the press at that time.

Click here for an analysis by the LAWG