Here are a few initial
thoughts on cuts to US aid to Honduras that President Trump is making – or wants
to make. I make no claim to have all the facts nor to know what is really going
on. I have more questions than answers, but wanted to share some thoughts and
some news reports that I think should be part of any discussion.
According to some news
reports, the US president is planning to cut US aid to Honduras, Guatemala, and
El Salvador, or at least 500 million dollars worth. The presumed reason is that
they are permitting people to go to the US in the caravans.
I think he’s got it all
wrong.
First of all, the caravans
are, as I see it, just making visible the migration that is already happening.
About a month ago, I heard a Honduran analyst say that about 300 persons were
leaving Honduras each day, even before the October caravan. If this happens
every day, that means more than 9000 are fleeing each month.
Secondly, the caravans
are reflections of a reality full of injustice and oppression in Honduras and
other countries. They also are reflections of continuing violence, most often
connected with gangs and drug-trafficking in the major cities and in certain
parts of the country. A failed justice system, together with massive corruption,
does not respond to this violence nor to the crimes and injustices experienced by
many in other parts of the country. To this, I must add the current climatic
conditions here and the low coffee paid to coffee farmers as other factors
contributing to migration. (This deserves a future blog post.)
The cut off to
humanitarian programs may increase the unemployment rate of youth and professionals
in Honduras and will affect those who are positively helped by some programs.
Some coffee farmers I know have received aid from US AID and there have been
several education projects that received major aid. Cutting aid to these
programs may just feed the factors that propel people to migrate to the US.
Thirdly, my real question
is: Will military support and so-called “security” aid be cut?
Though there are some
reports to the contrary, I believe military and “security” aid will remain mostly
untouched.
What does this aid do?
In my prejudiced opinion,
this type of aid to a large part continues to support the political and
economic elites who keep Honduras impoverished. In addition, it allows the
increasing militarization of the country.
I really wonder if it
does affect the drug trade, in light of the political ties to drug trafficking.
In the past month a US
official praised the Honduran president for his drug prevention efforts.
Somebody perhaps forgot to tell the US representative that the brother of the
president is in jail in the US for drug trafficking. Also, someone perhaps didn’t
inform them that a former mayor, a member of the president’s National Party, is
being sought for drug trafficking. While mayor, he had a helicopter port built
on top of the city hall!
There has been some
decrease in the amount of violence, though it is debated if the decrease is as
great as the government claims. But, at what cost?
The Honduran president recently
announced that he was increasing the number of military in the country. I don’t
know for sure, but I guess that much of that funding comes from the US for
“security.” Does this type of militarization help the people or does it
increase the power to control and repress? (More on this later.)
And so, how do I respond
to the proposed cuts? I think this will not be a good policy. If they do not
include cuts to the military, I think they will be counterproductive.
But I wonder what might
happen if there were a threat to US military and “security” aid? Would this
change the policies of the current government.
While trying to find out
more on the US president’s Friday night missive on cutting aid, I came across a
counterproposal made the day before the President’s announcement, by four US
representatives. According to a press release of congressman Hank Johnson:
Rep. Hank Johnson (GA-04), alongside Reps. Jan Schakowsky
(IL-09), José Serrano (NY-15), and Marcia Kaptur (OH-09), with the support of
43 Members of Congress, today reintroduced H.R. 1945, the Berta Cáceres Human
Rights in Honduras Act.”
As Rep Johnson said: “This legislation will suspend U.S.
military funding to Honduran security forces and discourage multilateral
development bank lending until the Honduran government investigates and
prosecutes those in the military and police who have violated human rights.”
Now that might make a
difference.
Posts
2 comments:
Distinguishing between humanitarian aid and military aid is one important step in understanding the situation. However it is important that people in the north (your readers) understand that humanitarian aid is often tainted and at times insidious. Bags of powdered milk or. Humanitarian projects come with strings attached and not so hidden consequences. Humanitarian aid is filtered through local agencies, often set up by local oligarchy or people in power. Much of the "aid" goes directly into the pockets of the oligarchy or ruling class who have already the military aid to defend their illicit acquisitions. This is not just Honduras but around the world and to some extent it is accepted that if some smaller % of the aid actually reaches the poor, then some good has been done. Ivan Illich wrote (1968) about the "seamy side of charity", and the contribution of do-gooder missionaries and aid workers who end up making things worse. So I would begin to question what humanitarian aid is coming into Honduras, who controls it and who really benefits from it. Even the emergency aid that comes after natural disasters is questionable as we saw in the lack of real assistance that flowed into Haiti after the earthquake and yet $hundreds of millions was donated. International aid is a very big and profitable enterprise!
Phil, I agree with you. I have grave reservations about much of the foreign aid, including humanitarian aid, that the US provides. The biggest problem is when it is provided in a way that supports despotic regimes, who are not at all loathe to claim that they, their government officials and political party, were responsible for the aid.
This happens also can happen with aid by international organizations who are manipulated by the local politicians and government. Groups that bring medical aid and medical teams are especially vulnerable to manipulation. I have seen at least one medical brigade from an evangelical group: they had a local evangelical pastor there and their US volunteers were handing out evangelical tracts. But I noted the prominent presence of some of the employees of VIDA MEJOR with their blue vests adorned with the signature of Juan Orlando.
There is another medical group that comes here that is very careful to avoid those types of situations.
Disaster relief is another situation and prone to corruption as well as manipulation of money by international aid groups who get a large donation with little oversight. There's a good book, published in 2005, on the aid that came to Honduras after Hurricane Mitch: Jeffrey T. Jackson's THE GLOBALIZERS: Development Workers in Action.
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