Posted: Wed 26 Jul 2006 01:00 Post subject: In LAmerica, U.S. aid faces political head winds from left
MIAMI - When the U.S. official approached leaders of Argentina's piquetero movement of street protesters to offer them money for democracy-strengthening programs, he got a cold reaction.
"You could see this look of panic that crept across their face: `We're talking to the CIA!'" the official recalled.
Such are the deep suspicions and strong reluctance that the Bush administration faces as it adds tens of millions of dollars to U.S. democracy-building programs in Latin America, a region where leftist, populist and anti-Bush sentiments increasingly dominate politics.
"A new political class ... has come to power, or is coming to power, and they see a lot of this (U.S. aid) with a great deal of suspicion," said Christopher Sabatini, who until recently ran the Latin American programs for the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a congressionally funded group that gives grants to pro-democracy programs.
Supporters of socialist President Hugo Chavez in Venezuela have stopped attending political training seminars arranged by U.S.-based institutions, for example, and pro-Chavez lawmakers are pushing a bill that would make it much harder for nongovernmental groups to accept U.S. funding.
The U.S. official who reached out in 2003 to the piqueteros, known for their disruptive street protests in demand of social benefits, never heard from them again, he said, asking for anonymity to avoid affecting his institution's dealings in Argentina.
In the past, NED and its main beneficiaries like the International Republican Institute (IRI) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI), worked well with what Sabatini called "more traditional civil society organizations and leaders, many of them Harvard trained technocrats."
But new groups have emerged from the fringes of Latin America society, like indigenous Bolivian groups with a long history of grievances against the ruling elites and the urban poor from Buenos Aires' industrial districts. Increasingly, they have challenged the U.S. agenda that promotes political stability and more open economies.
The Bush administration, in keeping with its pledge to push for democracy around the world, has quadrupled worldwide aid for pro-democracy programs to more than $2 billion a year, says Thomas Melia, deputy executive director of Freedom House, which organizes exchange visits for pro-democracy activists in Latin America.
U.S. government agencies contacted by The Miami Herald for official aid totals said any such numbers are only rough approximations because funds are being poured over multiple accounts into a complex web of groups and government agencies.
The web spans from specialized sections of the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to the Pan-American Development Foundation of the Organization of American States and nonprofit groups like the Carter Center, the Solidarity Center of the AFL-CIO and U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Center for International Private Enterprise.
The biggest single winner appears to be NED, which hands out grants directly to foreign groups. Its congressional funding rose from $59 million in 2005 to $74 million this year - plus $10 million to 15 million for specific programs ordered by lawmakers, such as $2 million for groups in Venezuela, NED officials say. So far this year, NED has awarded grants in Latin America totaling $7.9 million, and expects to at least equal last year's record of $10.9 million. In 2004, NED gave out $6.7 million in the region.
The biggest government donor is USAID, which has a $176 million democracy-and-governance budget for Latin America in 2006, with Haiti ($33 million) and Paraguay ($27 million) topping the list of beneficiaries.
That's a drop from the $185 million in 2005, which experts say is the result of a new Bush administration attempt to redirect money away from some of the large U.S. private contractors that regularly work for USAID. Benefiting from this new approach has been the State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, which has set aside $9 million for nongovernment organizations in Latin America for the next two or three years - tripling previous levels.
The office has already asked for grant applications for programs involving Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, Haiti, Ecuador and Guatemala. One program asks applicants to find ways to use satellite and wireless communications technology to reach Cubans. Another seeks to strengthen Venezuelan labor unions.
Officials insist that all groups can apply, even those that oppose U.S. policies. "The litmus test is not President Bush's policies, but democratic openness," said Adolfo Franco, who heads Latin American programs for USAID.
But there have been questions about who benefits from the programs.
IRI, linked to the Republican Party, has denied allegations that it urged opponents of ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to reject a compromise with his government, and came under attack from the Venezuelan government when it blamed a 2002 coup against Chavez on his "repressive" ways.
Chavez's Fifth Republic Movement later stopped sending its members to political training seminars in Caracas arranged by IRI and NDI, leaving the seminars to politically neutral or anti-Chavez groups.
The Venezuelan legislature's proposal to make it hard for nongovernment groups to receive U.S. funding is already scaring some potential recipients, wary of being tagged as agents of the Bush administration's policies.
Freedom House, for instance, often will not post the names of Venezuelans who take part in two-week democracy-building study tours.
"Venezuela is in fact a place where people will get harassed for going on U.S.-sponsored exchange tours to learn about human rights monitoring," said Melia.
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Đ 2006, The Miami Herald.
Joined: 04 May 2005 {Posts: 2021 } Location: santiago, chile
Posted: Wed 26 Jul 2006 02:47 Post subject: Latin America
Hi,
What follows is my interpretation of Latin American thinking, not my personal oppinion, anyways.
Well, if there is something that everyone agrees in Latin America is in the idea that the United States is a very dangerous neighbour for us. The history of invasions and abuses that has suffered every single country in Latin America because of the U.S. is something that is never forgotten.
Some countries take an agresive attitude with the U.S., though. Others just ignore it. But always we know that the bullyboy of the neighborhood can wake up in any moment and attack us once again. People is worried that when the U.S. got tired of the Middle East it could start to attack us once again. Also, there are countries like mine that keep good relations with the U.S. because of necesity. But, in general, there is not admiration nor love for the U.S. at all.
If we have to admire a democracy, we remember France. If we have to admire ingenuity, we admire Germany. If we have to admire industrial development we remember Japan, Hong Kong and Singapour. And in Space, we remember Russia. Never the U.S.
There is and old saying in Mexico, that could be applied to the rest of Latin America as well:
"Poor Mexico: so far from God but so close to the United States"
People in here could feel love for Spain, Italy, Germany or China, even Canada. But if one mention the U.S. something stop us for feeling the same.
I believe is the consecuency of the past, and nothing else.
If the leftist movements refuse the help is because the USA ask something for it.
And the area has a history of bad management with any kind of help, all the corrupts take the money, later they can fly to miami when the economy canīt hand enough pressure.
And also there are the suposed "aids" from vile organizations like the World Bank.
Joined: 04 May 2005 {Posts: 2021 } Location: santiago, chile
Posted: Thu 27 Jul 2006 18:12 Post subject: Mexico
interesado wrote:
I think you fantasize a lot oevega.
If the leftist movements refuse the help is because the USA ask something for it.
And the area has a history of bad management with any kind of help, all the corrupts take the money, later they can fly to miami when the economy canīt hand enough pressure.
And also there are the suposed "aids" from vile organizations like the World Bank.
Now, it is you who is dreaming.
You just described Mexico. Not necesarily the rest of the Latin American contries.
'
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