Last week, Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act for 2010 (H.R. 3288) which combines provisions for six Fiscal Year 2010 appropriations. One of the provisions included in the bill is the State Department, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations for FY2010 (Division F). This section funds U.S. foreign assistance programs, many of which are tracked on this website. We have...
The Latinobarómetro, an annual public opinion survey, was recently released for 2009. Between September 21st and October 26th, 20,204 people were interviewed, who were "representative of 100% of the population" of 18 Latin American countries. The 2009 report begins with a fairly detailed review of opinions about Honduras' recent political crisis. Since the survey was administered during the political crisis, it reflects how many Hondurans felt at...
- Multiple reports were released this week citing human rights violations committed by security forces in Mexico, Brazil, and Venezuela.
- A new report by Amnesty International "accuses the [Mexican] authorities of failing to fully probe allegations of abuses committed by the military, including enforced disappearances, extrajudicial and unlawful killings, torture, ill treatment and arbitrary detentions." You can ...
Yesterday, the House of Representatives passed the "Western Hemisphere Drug Policy Commission Act of 2009" (H.R. 2134) by voice vote. This bill, first introduced by Congressman Eliot Engel (D-NY) at the end of April 2009, would create "an independent commission to evaluate U.S. policies and programs aimed at reducing illicit drug supply and demand in the Western Hemisphere," according to a...
On Sunday, the Miami Herald's Andres Oppenheimer published an article headlined "Latin America's honeymoon with Obama may be over." This is the latest on a long list of commentaries on the year-old U.S. administration's faltering image throughout Latin America. In the past week, U.S. relations with Latin America have been described as "gone south," "...
In 2007, President George W. Bush announced the Mérida Initiative, a 3-year, $1.4 billion program, most of it military and police assistance, to help Mexico and Central America fight organized crime and narcotrafficking. Congress first appropriated funds to the Mérida Initiative in the Fiscal Year 2008 supplemental appropriations bill, and have since appropriated nearly $1.3 billion for the initiative. The U.S. Government Accountability Office, a branch of the U.S. Congress that audits and evaluates...