Blinken promises US shift from military focus in Latin America
Quito, Ecuador - The United States has focused too much on security over other assistance in Latin America, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday, as he vowed a concerted push to encourage democracy.
Amid a rise both of authoritarians and populists in Latin America, Blinken is visiting Ecuador and Colombia as President Joe Biden seeks to champion stable democracies.
Both nations receive US security training and are led by conservatives who have taken controversial measures, with Colombian forces this year killing dozens of anti-government protesters and Ecuador on Tuesday announcing a state of emergency just as Blinken visited.
“Our record on improving civilian security in the region’s democracies has been mixed,” Blinken was to say in a speech on Wednesday in the Ecuadorian capital Quito.
“That’s because too often, we tried to fix this problem by relying too much on training and equipping security forces, and too little on other tools in our kit,” he was to say.
“And we focused too much on addressing the symptoms of organised crime, like homicides and drug trafficking, and too little on the root causes. We’re working to correct that imbalance.”
Among US initiatives that go beyond security, Blinken pointed to the Biden administration's
ANTONY BLINKEN
greater push on fighting corruption, including denying visas to officials involved in graft.
Blinken said the United States, alongside its frequent calls for elections, would also be more attentive to economic concerns such as improving labor standards, health care and education.
“This should be obvious, but the reality is that we’ve often put more energy into strengthening civil and political rights - such as free and fair elections, the rule of law, freedom of speech and assembly - than we have into strengthening people's economic and social rights.”
The Biden administration, largely following the lead of former president Donald Trump, has ramped up pressure on leftist autocratic leaders in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, where President Nicolas Maduro has suspended dialogue with the USbacked opposition.
We’ve often put more energy into strengthening civil and political rights than we have into strengthening people's economic and social rights