Download or read book El Salvador written by Clare Ribando Seelke and published by . This book was released on 2019-08-22 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Congress has had significant interest in El Salvador, a small Central American nation that has had a large percentage of its population living in the United States since the country's civil conflict (1980-1992). During the 1980s, the U.S. government spent billions of dollars supporting the Salvadoran government's counterinsurgency efforts against the leftist Farabundo Mart� National Liberation Front (FMLN). The United States later supported a 1992 peace accord that ended the conflict and transformed the FMLN into a political party. Despite periodic tensions, the United States worked with two consecutive FMLN administrations (2009-2019), but bilateral efforts were unable to prevent significant outflows of migrants from the country. Domestic Situation On June 1, 2019, Nayib Bukele, a 37-year-old businessman and former mayor of San Salvador, took office for a five-year presidential term. Bukele won 53% of the vote in the February 2019 election, standing for the Grand Alliance for National Unity (GANA) party. Elected on an anticorruption platform, Bukele is the first president in 30 years to be elected without the backing of the conservative National Republic Alliance (ARENA) or the FMLN parties. Bukele succeeded Salvador S�nchez Cer�n (FMLN), who presided over a period of moderate economic growth (averaging 2.3%), ongoing security challenges, and political polarization. President Bukele has promised to reduce crime and attract investment, but his lack of support in the National Assembly (GANA has 11 of 84 seats) could present challenges. Bukele has proposed infrastructure projects that could help the country take better advantage of the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR); critics question how these projects will be financed. Bukele has criticized repressive governments in Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Honduras. During a July 2019 visit with Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, President Bukele vowed to improve relations with the United States by working bilaterally to address gangs, drugs, and immigration and seeking investment rather than U.S. assistance. U.S. Policy U.S. policy in El Salvador has focused on promoting economic prosperity, improving security, and strengthening governance under the U.S. Strategy for Engagement in Central America. Congress has appropriated nearly $2.6 billion for the strategy since FY2016, at least $410 million of which has been allocated to El Salvador. The Trump Administration has requested $445 million for the strategy in FY2020, including at least $45.7 million for El Salvador, and an unspecified amount allocated for the country under the Central American Regional Security Initiative (CARSI). Future U.S. engagement in El Salvador is uncertain, however, as the Administration announced in March 2019 that it intended to end foreign assistance programs in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras due to continued unauthorized U.S.-bound migration. In June 2019, the Administration identified FY2017 and FY2018 bilateral and regional funds subject to withholding or reprogramming. It is unclear how funds appropriated for FY2019 in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2019 (P.L. 116-6) and FY2020 funds may be affected. Bilateral relations also have been tested by shifts in U.S. immigration policies, including the Trump Administration's decision to rescind the temporary protected status (TPS) designation that has shielded up to 250,000 Salvadorans from removal since 2001. A House-passed bill, H.R. 6, would allow certain TPS designees to apply for permanent resident status.

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 Understanding Central America written by John A. Booth and published by ReadHowYouWant.com. This book was released on 2011-05-14 with total page 714 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The fifth edition of Understanding Central America explains how domestic and global political and economic forces have shaped rebellion and regime change in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. John A. Booth, Christine J. Wade, and Thomas W. Walker explore the origins and development of the region's political conflicts and its efforts to resolve them. Covering the region's political and economic development from the early 1800s onward, the authors provide a background for understanding Central America's rebellion and regime change of the past forty years. This revised edition brings the Central American story up to date, with special emphasis on globalization, evolving public opinion, progress toward democratic consolidation, and the relationship between Central America and the United States under the Obama administration, and includes analysis of the 2009 Honduran coup d'etat. A useful introduction to the region and a model for how to convey its complexities in language readers will comprehend, Understanding Central America stands out as a must-have resource.

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 Gangs in Central America written by Clare Ribando Seelke and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2010-05 with total page 22 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contents: (1) Background on Violent Crime; (2) Scope of the Gang Problem: Defining Gangs; Transnational Gangs; Factors Exacerbating the Gang Problem; Poverty and a Lack of Educ. and Employ. Opport.; Societal Stigmas; Role of the Media; Anti-Gang Law Enforce. Efforts; Prisons in Need of Reform; U.S. Deportations; (3) Country Anti-Gang Efforts: Mano Dura (Heavy-Handed) Anti-Gang Policies; Effects of Mano Dura Policies?; Alternative Approaches; Prospects for Country Prevention and Rehab. Efforts; Regional and Multilateral Efforts; OAS; Multilateral Develop. Banks and Donor Agencies; (4) U.S. Policy: Congressional Interest; U.S. Internat. Anti-Gang Efforts; State Dept.; Justice Dept.; USAID; Policy Approaches and Concerns.

Download or read book El Salvador a Revolution Confronts the United States written by Cynthia Arnson and published by . This book was released on 1982 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Unforgetting written by Roberto Lovato and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2020-09-01 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An LA Times Best Book of the Year • A New York Times Editors' Pick • A Newsweek 25 Best Fall Books • A The Millions Most Anticipated Book of the Year "Gripping and beautiful. With the artistry of a poet and the intensity of a revolutionary, Lovato untangles the tightly knit skein of love and terror that connects El Salvador and the United States." —Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Natural Causes and Nickel and Dimed An urgent, no-holds-barred tale of gang life, guerrilla warfare, intergenerational trauma, and interconnected violence between the United States and El Salvador, Roberto Lovato’s memoir excavates family history and reveals the intimate stories beneath headlines about gang violence and mass Central American migration, one of the most important, yet least-understood humanitarian crises of our time—and one in which the perspectives of Central Americans in the United States have been silenced and forgotten. The child of Salvadoran immigrants, Roberto Lovato grew up in 1970s and 80s San Francisco as MS-13 and other notorious Salvadoran gangs were forming in California. In his teens, he lost friends to the escalating violence, and survived acts of brutality himself. He eventually traded the violence of the streets for human rights advocacy in wartime El Salvador where he joined the guerilla movement against the U.S.-backed, fascist military government responsible for some of the most barbaric massacres and crimes against humanity in recent history. Roberto returned from war-torn El Salvador to find the United States on the verge of unprecedented crises of its own. There, he channeled his own pain into activism and journalism, focusing his attention on how trauma affects individual lives and societies, and began the difficult journey of confronting the roots of his own trauma. As a child, Roberto endured a tumultuous relationship with his father Ramón. Raised in extreme poverty in the countryside of El Salvador during one of the most violent periods of its history, Ramón learned to survive by straddling intersecting underworlds of family secrets, traumatic silences, and dealing in black-market goods and guns. The repression of the violence in his life took its toll, however. Ramón was plagued with silences and fits of anger that had a profound impact on his youngest son, and which Roberto attributes as a source of constant reckoning with the violence and rebellion in his own life. In Unforgetting, Roberto interweaves his father’s complicated history and his own with first-hand reportage on gang life, state violence, and the heart of the immigration crisis in both El Salvador and the United States. In doing so he makes the political personal, revealing the cyclical ways violence operates in our homes and our societies, as well as the ways hope and tenderness can rise up out of the darkness if we are courageous enough to unforget.

Download or read book Transnational Organized Crime in Central America and the Caribbean written by and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 86 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report is one of several studies conducted by UNODC on organized crime threats around the world. These studies describe what is known about the mechanics of contraband trafficking - the what, who, how, and how much of illicit flows - and discuss their potential impact on governance and development. Their primary role is diagnostic, but they also explore the implications of these findings for policy. Publisher's note.

Download or read book Background Notes El Salvador written by and published by . This book was released on 1993 with total page 12 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Background Notes El Salvador written by United States. Department of State. Bureau of Public Affairs and published by . This book was released on 1981 with total page 4 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book El Salvador written by Margarita S. Studemeister and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Feeding the Crisis written by Rachel Garst and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 1990-01-01 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines United States food aid to Central America, and makes detailed recommendations for changes in its administration

Download or read book Seeking Peace in El Salvador written by D. Negroponte and published by Springer. This book was released on 2012-01-17 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The resolution of the civil war in El Salvador coincided with the end of the Cold War. After two years of negotiations and a decade-long effort to implement the peace accords, this work examines how peace was made and whether it has endured.

Download or read book Global Peace Operations Initiative written by Nina M. Serafino and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2010-11 with total page 22 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contents: (1) Introduction: Purposes and Goal; Achievements to Date; Funding to Date; (2) Background; (3) Global Peace Operations Initiative (GPOI) Purposes and Activities: GPOI Goals and Needs; Demand for Peacekeepers; Need for Gendarme-Constabulary Forces; U.S. Peacekeeping Training and Assistance in Sub-Saharan Africa; The Transition to GPOI Training and Assistance in Sub-Saharan Africa; Development of a ¿Beyond Africa¿ Program; Western Hemisphere; Asia/South Asia/Pacific Islands; Greater Europe (Europe and Eurasia); Middle East; Foreign Contributions to Peacekeeping Capacity Building; Italian Center of Excellence for Stability Police Units; (4) Administration Funding Requests and Congressional Action, Illus.

Download or read book Central America Update written by and published by . This book was released on 1983 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Pacification of Central America written by James Dunkerley and published by Verso. This book was released on 1994-05-17 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This unique guide to the politics and recent history of Central America by one of its most distinguished commentators opens with a succinct overview of pacification and democracy in the region. Dunkerley focuses on the causes and consequences of the ending of civil war in El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua. Drawing on a wide range of local and international sources, he stresses the variety of means by which peace has been sought and achieved. He also analyses economic performance, relations with the US, refugee and human rights problems, narcotics and corruption, and the issue of war crimes. The second section of the book comprises a detailed chronology covering all key developments between 1987 and 1993. the book concludes with indispensable appendices which clearly set out statistical profiles of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua for the decade since 1982. they document US economic and military aid to Central America, the dates and results of regional elections, and provide statistics on refugees and displaced persons. The Pacification of Central America is a valuable tool of reference for anyone with an interest in the complicated and often confusing politics of the region.

Download or read book The Cold War s Last Battlefield written by Edward A. Lynch and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 2011-12-01 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Central America was the final place where U.S. and Soviet proxy forces faced off against one another in armed conflict. In The Cold War’s Last Battlefield, Edward A. Lynch blends his own first-hand experiences as a member of the Reagan Central America policy team with interviews of policy makers and exhaustive study of primary source materials, including once-secret government documents, in order to recount these largely forgotten events and how they fit within Reagan’s broader foreign policy goals. Lynch’s compelling narrative reveals a president who was willing to risk both influence and image to aggressively confront Soviet expansion in the region. He also demonstrates how the internal debates between competing sides of the Reagan administration were really an argument about the basic thrust of U.S. foreign policy, and that they anticipated, to a remarkable degree, policy discussions following the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.