Latin America vows to resist Trump’s ‘protectionist’ policies
Summit condemns ‘all forms of racism and discrimination against migrants’
Leaders from across Latin America said they’ll unite to confront the threat posed by “protectionist” US policies, just hours after President Donald Trump took the first step to build a wall between the US and Mexico.
Presidents and diplomats from 33 countries in the region met at the summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, with many calling for greater integration to combat Trump’s “America first” policies.
A joint declaration, among other things, warned of the economic threat posed by protectionism and volatility in international financial markets. It also condemned “all forms of racism, xenophobia, and discrimination against migrants.” The solution to the question of migration is not walls or borders,” said Ecuador President Rafael Correa.
What is waterboarding?
Waterboarding is an enhanced interrogation technique that simulates the feeling of being drowned. A person is strapped to a board with the upper part of his body on a downward incline. Then, a cloth is placed over the person’s mouth, and water is poured over his face, causing the person to have difficulty breathing and to feel as if his lungs are filling with water. CIA medical staff determined that the process was dangerous enough that they required resuscitation and medical equipment to be placed in interrogation rooms where waterboarding took place. On at least once occasion, a detainee required resuscitation.
When was it first used?
According to historians, waterboarding dates to the Middle Ages and has been a form of torture in many conflicts. Japanese soldiers used it on American prisoners of war in the Second World War, and US soldiers used it when interrogating captured North Vietnamese soldiers. US military personnel are still trained on SERE (Survival Evasion Resistance Escape) techniques and subjected to waterboarding in training situations to help them resist if they are captured.
How did it come back into use by the United States?
The CIA hired two former military psychologists after 9/11 to assist in the interrogation of highvalue Al Qaida detainees held at secret CIA prisons overseas. The psychologists, James Mitchell and John “Bruce” Jessen, helped develop an escalating series of enhanced interrogation techniques, including waterboarding.
Is it still legal?
No. It is prohibited under federal law. Former President Barack Obama banned the use of torture as an interrogation technique in 2009.