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http://warontherocks.com/2015/02/a-new-beginning-for-the-united-states-in-central-america/

A New Beginning for the United States in Central America?

R. Evan
Ellis

The announcement by the White House on January 29 that it would ask Congress for $1 billion for Central America
in its FY2016 budget is welcome news for the region, and for the United States. The proposed request would triple
the resources earmarked for Central America by the U.S. government in recent years, although the amount of money
contemplated remains modest by comparison to the magnitude of problems that those countries face.
The administrations declaration on Central America, in combination with its restoration of diplomatic relations with
Cuba, creates the opportunity for the United States to forge a new relationship with Latin America and the Caribbean.
With both initiatives, and the possibility of more surprises on Latin America policy yet to come, the upcoming Summit
of the Americas in April in Panama City could be one of the most productive multilateral engagements the United
States has had with the region in years.
Although the actual amount and composition of funds that will eventually be provided for Central America is far from
clear, the assistance is badly needed. The surge of 60,000 minors detained trying to enter the United States during
the summer of 2014 highlights how critical the situation has become, as do failed attempts by El Salvador, Honduras
and Belize to forge truces between (and with) the street gangs perpetrating violence and criminality in their country.
The September 2012 call by conservative Guatemalan president Otto Perez Molina to consider legalizing drugs
further indicates the degree to which the destructive dynamic of narcotics, gangs, criminality and violence is tearing
apart the countries of Central America, and particularly El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.
The tone of Vice President Bidens January 29 editorial presenting the administrations proposal is laudable. Yes, the
United States must help Central Americans help themselves. Yet it would be wrong to presume that leaders, and
others in Central America, have not been contemplating for years how to address the challenges that their nations
face.
In a similar fashion, Vice President Bidens mention of Colombia as an example of how the United States can
successfully help countries help themselves is not the first time such comparisons have been made, and will surely
not be the last. While there are important lessons to learn from Colombias successes in working with the United
States to address its terrorist and criminal challenges, there is not a Colombia model which can be exported to
solve the complex challenges of Central America. Indeed, although Mexican officials have long worked with
Colombians to identify and apply lessons from the Colombian experience, few things annoy Mexican officials more
than listening to the gringos lecture them about Colombia.
According to the White House, $400 million of the money requested will be for programs to promote trade, reduce
poverty and improve customs and border integration. $300 million will be for security assistance and anti-crime
activities (including the continuation of programs conducted under the umbrella of the Central America Regional
Security Initiative (CARSI). Approximately $250 million will be for institution building and reform programs.
While the details provided by the administration appear reasonable, they appear, at first glance, to reflect a
compilation of ideas by individual State Department and USAID organizations currently supporting Central America,
regarding how to modify or plus-up their existing programs to spend $1 billion, rather than reflecting a coherent
strategy about how to best attack the complex, interdependent problems impacting the region.
I can only imagine the emails, memos and frenzied meetings that must have occurred as high-level requests for
information percolated down through individual program offices and field organizations in recent weeks. With the
greatest respect for the abilities, professionalism and good intentions of my distinguished colleagues in Foggy

Bottom, the United States may be losing a historic opportunity to think creatively about how it might spend a billion
dollars in a way that would most effectively assist our partners in Central America.
As those familiar with Defense Department programs in Afghanistan and Iraq know, $1 billion gets spent much more
quickly than one might think. For both the United States and our Central American partners, it is critical that we get
this right.
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