Download or read book U S Strategy for Engagement in Central America Policy Issues for Congress written by Congressional Research Service and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2019-01-10 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Central America has received renewed attention from U.S. policymakers over the past few years as the region has become a major transit corridor for illicit drugs and has surpassed Mexico as the largest source of irregular migration to the United States. These narcotics and migrant flows are the latest symptoms of deep-rooted challenges in several countries in the region, including widespread insecurity, fragile political and judicial systems, and high levels of poverty and unemployment. The U.S. government and partners in the region have begun to implement new initiatives intended to address those challenges, but living conditions in Central America have yet to improve significantly. U.S. Strategy for Engagement in Central America The Obama Administration determined it was in the national security interests of the United States to work with Central American governments to address their challenges. With congressional support, it launched a new U.S. Strategy for Engagement in Central America and significantly increased aid to the region. The strategy takes a broader, more comprehensive approach than previous U.S. initiatives in Central America and is based on the premise that efforts to promote prosperity, improve security, and strengthen governance are mutually reinforcing and of equal importance. The strategy focuses primarily on the "Northern Triangle" countries of Central America (El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras), which face the greatest challenges and are carrying out complementary efforts under their Alliance for Prosperity initiative. It also provides an overarching framework for U.S. engagement with the other countries in the region: Belize, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Panama. The Trump Administration has maintained the U.S. Strategy for Engagement in Central America but has adjusted the initiative to place more emphasis on preventing illegal immigration, combating transnational crime, and generating export and investment opportunities for U.S. businesses. The Administration also has sought to scale back U.S. assistance to Central America, but Congress has rejected the majority of the proposed reductions.
Download or read book U s Strategy for Engagement in Central America written by Congressional Research Service and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-06-28 with total page 38 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Central America has received renewed attention from U.S. policymakers over the past few years as the region has become a major transit corridor for illicit drugs and a significant source of irregular migration to the United States. These narcotics and migrant flows are the latest symptoms of deep-rooted challenges in several countries in the region, including widespread insecurity, fragile political and judicial systems, and high levels of poverty and unemployment. Although the Obama Administration and governments in the region launched new initiatives designed to improve conditions in Central America, the future of those efforts will depend on the decisions of the Trump Administration and the 115th Congress. U.S. Strategy for Engagement in Central America The Obama Administration determined it was in the national security interests of the United States to work with Central American governments to address conditions in the region. Accordingly, the Obama Administration launched a new, whole-of-government U.S. Strategy for Engagement in Central America. The new strategy takes a broader and more comprehensive approach than previous U.S. initiatives in the region and is based on the premise that efforts to promote prosperity, improve security, and strengthen governance are mutually reinforcing and of equal importance. The new strategy focuses primarily on the "northern triangle" countries of Central America-El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras-which face the greatest challenges. Nevertheless, it also provides an overarching framework for U.S. engagement with the other countries in the region: Belize, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Panama. The new U.S. strategy and the northern triangle governments' Alliance for Prosperity initiative have similar objectives and fund complementary efforts; however, they have prioritized different activities. Initial Funding and Conditions Congress has appropriated $1.4 billion to begin implementing the new Central America strategy, dividing the funds relatively equally among efforts to promote prosperity, strengthen governance, and improve security. This figure includes $750 million appropriated in FY2016 and $655 million appropriated in FY2017 (through P.L. 114-113 and P.L. 115-31, respectively). Congress placed strict conditions on the aid, requiring the northern triangle governments to address a range of concerns, including border security, corruption, and human rights, to receive assistance. As a result of those legislative requirements, delays in the budget process, and congressional holds, most of the FY2016 funding did not begin to be delivered to Central America until early 2017. The State Department has yet to certify that any of the northern triangle countries have met the legislative requirements for FY2017. Future Appropriations and Other Policy Issues Congress is now considering President Trump's FY2018 budget request, which would cut funding for the Central America strategy by $195 million, or 30%, compared to the FY2017 estimate. As Congress deliberates on the future of the Central America strategy, it may examine a number of policy issues. These issues include the funding levels and strategy necessary to meet U.S. objectives; the extent to which Central American governments are demonstrating the political will to undertake domestic reforms; the utility of the conditions placed on assistance to Central America; and the potential implications of changes to U.S. immigration, trade, and drug control policies for U.S. objectives in the region.
Download or read book U S Strategy for Engagement in Central America written by Peter J. Mayer and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 31 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book U S Strategy for Engagement in Central America written by Peter J. Meyer and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page 3 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book U S Policy on Central America written by James H. Michel and published by . This book was released on 1986 with total page 4 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The United States and Central America written by Mark Rosenberg and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2007 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a concise overview of the recent history of U.S.-Central American relations. Part of the Contemporary Inter-American Relations series edited by Jorge Dominguez and Rafael Fernandez de Castro, it focuses on the relations between the U.S. and this region since the end of the Cold War. The volume considers economic relations between the two regions, presenting pertinent information on the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). It also looks at political issues such as military cooperation, security issues, the drug trade and organized crime, democracy in the region, and migration. Finally, it concludes with an assessment of the direction US-Central American relations are taking at present, moving beyond the black-and-white challenges of Soviet domination in the region to address post-9/11 security concerns. The United States and Central America will be of interest to students and scholars of foreign policy, Latin American politics and politics and international relations in general.
Download or read book U S Assistance to Central America written by United States. Government Accountability Office and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 81 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The United States has provided assistance to the Northern Triangle of Central America for many years to address poverty, weak governance, and insecurity. Introduced in 2014, and updated in 2017, the U.S. Strategy for Engagement in Central America (Strategy) supports the objectives of improving prosperity, governance, and security. State coordinates implementation of the Strategy’s objectives among agencies. This report examines: (1) the projects the U.S. government has implemented from fiscal years 2013 through 2018 to support the Strategy’s objectives in the Northern Triangle, (2) what is known about project results, and (3) what is known about progress toward the objectives. GAO recommends that State collaborate with DOD and USDA to develop a comprehensive approach to monitoring and evaluation of projects that support Strategy objectives.
Download or read book Sustaining a Consistent Policy in Central America written by United States. Department of State and published by . This book was released on 1985 with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Report to the President and the Congress written by and published by . This book was released on 1987 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The U S and Central America written by George Pratt Shultz and published by . This book was released on 1986 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Central America Regional Security Initiative written by PeterJ. Meyer and published by . This book was released on 2011-06-10 with total page 39 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Central America faces significant security challenges. Criminal threats, fragile political and judicial systems, and social hardships such as poverty and unemployment contribute to widespread insecurity in the region. Consequently, improving security conditions in these countries is a difficult, multifaceted endeavor. Because U.S. drug demand contributes to regional security challenges and the consequences of citizen insecurity in Central America are potentially far-reaching, the U.S. is collaborating with countries in the region to implement and refine security efforts. Contents of this report: (1) Introduction; (2) Background: Scope of the Problem: Underlying Societal Conditions; Structural Weaknesses in Governance; Criminal Threats; (3) Efforts within Central America; (4) U.S. Policy: Background on Assistance to Central America; Central America Regional Security Initiative; (5) Additional Issues for Congressional Consideration: Funding Issues; Human Rights Concerns; Relation to Other U.S. Government Policies; (6) Outlook. Figures and tables. This is a print on demand report.
Download or read book Unaccompanied Children from Central America written by Congressional Research Service and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2015-02-10 with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In recent months, U.S. policy makers have expressed concerns about a significant increase in the number of unaccompanied alien children (UAC) being apprehended at the U.S. border. More than 63,000 such children were apprehended over the first 10 months of the fiscal year -- a 100% increase compared to same time period of FY2013. This unexpected surge of children has strained U.S. government resources and created a complex crisis with humanitarian implications for the United States and the international community. Although the flow of unaccompanied minors appears to have slowed since July, experts warn it may accelerate again after the summer heat passes. As Congress continues to debate legislative options to address the foreign policy dimensions of the situation, there are a variety of interrelated issues that it might take into consideration. These include Central American governments' limited capacities to receive and reintegrate repatriated children, and their inability and/or unwillingness to address the pervasive insecurity and lack of socioeconomic opportunities in their countries that cause many children to leave. Other issues Congress might consider include the extent to which the Mexican government is capable of limiting the transmigration of Central Americans through its territory and how other international actors are responding to the spike in apprehensions of unaccompanied children"--Preliminary page.
Download or read book U S Policy in Central America written by Dario Moreno and published by University Press of Florida. This book was released on 1990 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "An excellent analysis of the evolution of U. S. Central American policies under the Carter and Reagan administrations that exposes the roles played by competing strategic visions and bureaucratic interest groups in shaping two of the most dramatic failures in recent U.S. foreign policy." --Andrew A. Reding, Hemispheric Affairs Fellow, World Policy Institute Under Carter and Reagan, U.S. foreign policy towards Central America failed. In this intriguing study, Dario Moreno explains how policy in those administrations was made, tracing its failure to a foreign policy establishment plagued by division and lack of consensus. Moreno shows that in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Panama, and Cuba, Carter and Reagan played out two dramatically different Third World strategies and that neither Carter's liberal internationalists nor Reagan's rollback theorists understood the reality of revolutionary changes in those countries. Moreno's study draws exceptional authenticity from his interviews and discussions with a dozen key Central American policy makers in each of the two administrations and with eminent political figures in Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, among them, Patricia Derian, assistant secretary of state for human rights under Carter; Elliot Abrams, Reagan's assistant secretary of state for human rights; and former president of Honduras, Jos� Azocona. Political scientists, historians, Latin Americanists, and informed Central America watchers will welcome U.S. Policy in Central America for its thoughtful analysis and as a blueprint for understanding competing ranks and divisions within the State Department's policy-making circles. Dario Moreno is assistant professor of political science at Florida International University.
Download or read book The Politics of Intervention written by Roger Burbach and published by New York, N.Y. : Monthly Review Press ; Berkeley, Cal. : Center for the Study of the Americas. This book was released on 1984 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Beyond the Headlines written by Jason Marczak and published by . This book was released on 2017-03-10 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Confronting Revolution written by Morris J. Blachman and published by Pantheon. This book was released on 1986 with total page 458 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a practical, thoughtful analysis of U.S. policy in Central America. The authors explain the interests of each major actor in the region, with key chapters on the Soviet Union, Cuba, and Nicaragua, and they examine the Contadora peace proposal by Mexico, Columbia, Panama, and Venezuela. They conclude that East-West conflict is secondary to Central American policy and that diplomacy is the key solution to peace. ISBN 0-394-74453-5 (pbk.): $12.95.
Download or read book Crisis In Central America written by Nora Hamilton and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-04-11 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the early years of the recent Central American crisis, analysts often predicted a rapid, dramatic resolution—whether by revolutionary victory or through military intervention by the United States. The 1980s, however, have witnessed an intensification of conflicts with increasing U.S. involvement. Rather than standing at the brink of a sharp turning point, Central America is at an interim point in an evolving historical process. This text provides an assessment of this process and of its immediate and long-term implications for the region and for U.S.-Latin American relations. It focuses on the complex and contradictory effects of the Reagan administration's efforts to influence the Central American debate within the United States and to reestablish U.S. hegemony in the region itself. The first part of the book examines the development of various aspects of U.S. policy toward Central America. In particular, contributors discuss the interaction between the executive and legislative branches in shaping U.S. strategy, the implications for constitutional democracy of presidential control over foreign policymaking, the treatment of Central American refugees, the counterinsurgency strategy of "low intensity warfare," and the effects of U.S. policy on regional peace initiatives put forward by Mexico and other Latin American countries. In the second part, contributors analyze external pressures on Central American countries and regional dynamics. They begin with a discussion of the economic crisis—aggravated by conflicts in the region—and regional integration. Other topics include the ambiguous position of the Catholic church, Guatemala's "hidden war," "demonstration elections," the changing balance of forces in El Salvador, and the obstacles Nicaragua faces in constructing a new economic development model. Nora Hamilton is associate professor of political science and Linda Fuller is assistant professor of sociology at the University of Southern California. Jeffry A. Frie
