Aid would go up modestly, with most increases for Colombia
The Obama administration sent its last foreign aid budget request to Congress today. While the actual amount is somewhat higher, WOLA identifies US$1,784,379,000 in assistance specified for Latin America and the Caribbean in 2017, based on the preliminary budget documents. This is a 9.5 percent increase over 2015 levels of assistance through these accounts. New aid to Colombia accounts for nearly all of this increase. (US$1,629,467,000—see the table at the end of this memo).
(At this early date, we still lack information about aid through several programs that provide a significant amount of assistance. Some of the missing programs appear in the 2017 Foreign Operations request issued today, but the State Department provides only whole-world or region-wide amounts for them, without breaking them down by country. Other money will come through the Defense Department’s budget, which is a principal source of anti-drug military and police assistance to the region. We are still seeking 2015 totals for these Defense anti-drug accounts; in 2014, though, they added up to US$145.6 million in additional military and police aid.)
From the information we do have now, four overall trends stand out:
1. The “Peace Colombia” assistance package would change the amount and makeup of U.S. assistance, but not radically. Among the programs specified for Colombia in this request, aid would increase by about 25 percent. As Colombia nears a likely peace accord with the FARC guerrillas, a clear majority of proposed U.S. assistance would for the first time go to economic development, or to the country’s civilian institutions. But it is not an overwhelming majority—probably between 50 and 55 percent.
The Economic Support Fund account, which will fund peace-accord implementation efforts like bringing state services to areas of historic guerrilla influence, would increase by US$54 million over 2015 levels, to US$187.3 million. The International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement program, which funds drug interdiction, extension of police presence into rural areas, judicial reform, and probably reintegration of ex-combatants, increases modestly, from US$135 million in 2015 and 2016 to US$143 million. (This account also pays for Colombian personnel to train militaries and police of third countries.) The Foreign Military Financing program, the main non-drug military aid program in this budget, would rise sharply from US$27 million in 2015–16 to US$38.5 million in 2017. The request is vague about the purpose of this additional post-conflict FMF: “FMF will continue to support Colombia’s efforts to ensure that its security gains are irreversible and support the transition of the bilateral relationship toward that of a strategic partnership in a post-accord environment,” it reads.
Though the White House announced US$450 million in new aid to Colombia during President Juan Manuel Santos’s visit last week, the Colombia-specific programs in the 2017 request total only US$370.3 million. It is our understanding that another US$21 million will be delivered as a U.S. contribution to a multilateral de-mining program, and that most of the rest is Defense Department counter-drug / counter-organized crime aid.
2. The Administration would (nearly) repeat the US$750 million that Central America is receiving in 2016. The State Department’s aid request document confusingly states, “our budget… dedicates over $750.6 million—as part of the Administration’s $1.0 billion request for appropriations and financing assistance to Central America.” We have so far been able to identify about US$713.1 million of this amount.
Program | Amount |
---|---|
Development Assistance
|
357,292 |
Economic Support Fund
|
100,300 |
Global Health Programs
|
33,992 |
International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement
|
205,000 |
International Military Education and Training
|
3,985 |
Foreign Military Financing
|
12,540 |
Total | 713,109 |
(All amounts in thousands of U.S. dollars)
The “missing” US$35 million is probably in regional accounts that have yet to be broken down by country, as discussed above. Here is the breakdown of aid that we do know about, with Development Assistance and a small portion of military assistance broken down by country, and the rest still in regional accounts.
Country | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
Net Increase 2016-2017
|
Percent Increase 2016-2017
|
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nicaragua | 12,054 | 10,000 | 14,800 | 4,800 | 48% |
El Salvador | 46,549 | 67,900 | 87,982 | 20,082 | 30% |
Guatemala | 107,185 | 127,515 | 140,105 | 12,590 | 10% |
Honduras | 71,191 | 98,250 | 105,655 | 7,405 | 8% |
Belize | 1,058 | 1,250 | 1,250 | – | 0% |
Costa Rica | 1,673 | 1,825 | 1,825 | – | 0% |
Panama | 2,582 | 2,850 | 2,700 | -150 | -5% |
Central America Regional Security Initiative (CARSI)
|
270,000 | 348,500 | 305,300 | -43,200 | -12% |
Central America Regional
|
49,173 | 89,410 | 53,492 | -35,918 | -40% |
Total | 561,465 | 747,500 | 713,109 | -34,391 | -6% |
(All amounts in thousands of U.S. dollars)
3. Assistance specified in the request for Mexico would drop by 18 percent. Nearly all of the decrease would come from the International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement program (INCLE), which funds police and judicial reform, among other programs to improve public security and to interdict drugs and migrants. INCLE assistance totaled US$110 million in 2015, dropped to US$100 million in 2016, and would fall to US$80 million in the 2017 aid request. INCLE is a principal source of U.S. support for Mexico’s “Southern Border Program” and migration authorities. Very little of it supports Mexico’s armed forces; most of that aid goes through Defense Department-administered accounts that do not appear in this request, and for which we still lack information about 2015 assistance. In 2014, however, the Defense budget provided US$44.6 million in counter-drug aid to Mexico.
4. From 2015 to 2017, the biggest increases and decreases in aid to countries receiving over US$20 million are as follows:
- El Salvador, +89% (+US$87,982,000)
- Honduras, +48% (+US$34,464,000)
- Guatemala, +33% (+US$32,920,000)
- Colombia, +25% (+US$73,612,000)
- Peru, -3% (-US$2,869,000)
- Haiti, -8% (-US$18,235,000)
- Mexico, -18% (-US$28,754,000)
Program | Country | 2015 | 2017 |
---|---|---|---|
International Military Education and Training | Argentina | 336 | 350 |
Argentina Total | 336 | 350 | |
Development Assistance | Barbados and Eastern Caribbean | 5,200 | 6,117 |
Global Health Programs – State | Barbados and Eastern Caribbean | 12,341 | 18,967 |
Global Health Programs – USAID | Barbados and Eastern Caribbean | 6537 | 6,950 |
International Military Education and Training | Barbados and Eastern Caribbean | 614 | 840 |
Barbados and Eastern Caribbean Total | 24692 | 32874 | |
Foreign Military Financing | Belize | 800 | 1,000 |
International Military Education and Training | Belize | 258 | 250 |
Belize Total | 1058 | 1250 | |
Development Assistance | Brazil | 10,500 | – |
Global Health Programs – State | Brazil | 300 | 300 |
International Military Education and Training | Brazil | 546 | 625 |
Brazil Total | 11346 | 925 | |
Economic Support Fund | Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI) | 27000 | 27400 |
Foreign Military Financing | Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI) | 5000 | 5000 |
International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement
|
Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI) | 25000 | 20000 |
Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI) Total | 57000 | 52400 | |
Development Assistance | Caribbean Development Program | 4,000 | 1,160 |
Caribbean Development Program Total | 4,000 | 1,160 | |
Development Assistance | Central America Regional | 9,200 | 32,500 |
Economic Support Fund | Central America Regional | 19,000 | – |
Foreign Military Financing | Central America Regional | ||
Global Health Programs – State | Central America Regional | 12,582 | 12,601 |
Global Health Programs – USAID | Central America Regional | 8391 | 8,391 |
Central America Regional Total | 49173 | 53,492 | |
Economic Support Fund | Central America Regional Security Initiative (CARSI) | 100000 | 100300 |
International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement
|
Central America Regional Security Initiative (CARSI) | 170000 | 205000 |
Central America Regional Security Initiative (CARSI) Total
|
270000 | 305300 | |
International Military Education and Training | Chile | 742 | 500 |
Chile Total | 742 | 500 | |
Economic Support Fund | Colombia | 133,000 | 187,328 |
Foreign Military Financing | Colombia | 27,000 | 38,525 |
International Military Education and Training | Colombia | 1,446 | 1,400 |
International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement
|
Colombia | 135,195 | 143,000 |
Colombia Total | 296,641 | 370,253 | |
International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement
|
Colombia – Western Hemisphere Regional Security Cooperation
|
||
Colombia – Western Hemisphere Regional Security Cooperation Total
|
0 | 0 | |
Foreign Military Financing | Costa Rica | 1,200 | 1,400 |
International Military Education and Training | Costa Rica | 473 | 425 |
Costa Rica Total | 1673 | 1825 | |
Economic Support Fund | Cuba | 20,000 | 15,000 |
Cuba Total | 20,000 | 15,000 | |
Development Assistance | Dominican Republic | 7,000 | 6,768 |
Global Health Programs – State | Dominican Republic | 8,847 | 9,363 |
Global Health Programs – USAID | Dominican Republic | 5,750 | 5,750 |
International Military Education and Training | Dominican Republic | 753 | 600 |
Dominican Republic Total | 22350 | 22481 | |
Development Assistance | Ecuador | – | 2,000 |
Ecuador Total | 0 | 2,000 | |
Development Assistance | El Salvador | 25,000 | 85,282 |
Economic Support Fund | El Salvador | 19,000 | – |
Foreign Military Financing | El Salvador | 1,600 | 1,900 |
International Military Education and Training | El Salvador | 949 | 800 |
El Salvador Total | 46549 | 87982 | |
Development Assistance | Guatemala | 57,387 | 124,605 |
Economic Support Fund | Guatemala | 34,000 | – |
Foreign Military Financing | Guatemala | 1,000 | 1,740 |
Global Health Programs – USAID | Guatemala | 14000 | 13,000 |
International Military Education and Training | Guatemala | 798 | 760 |
Guatemala Total | 107185 | 140105 | |
Global Health Programs – State | Guyana | 4,392 | – |
International Military Education and Training | Guyana | 300 | 250 |
Guyana Total | 4692 | 250 | |
Economic Support Fund | Haiti | 100,000 | 79,882 |
Foreign Military Financing | Haiti | 800 | 1,200 |
Global Health Programs – State | Haiti | 104,013 | 104,013 |
Global Health Programs – USAID | Haiti | 25200 | 25,200 |
International Military Education and Training | Haiti | 272 | 255 |
International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement
|
Haiti | 6,000 | 7,500 |
Haiti Total | 236,285 | 218,050 | |
Development Assistance | Honduras | 44,326 | 100,405 |
Economic Support Fund | Honduras | 23,000 | – |
Foreign Military Financing | Honduras | 3,100 | 4,500 |
International Military Education and Training | Honduras | 765 | 750 |
Honduras Total | 71191 | 105655 | |
Development Assistance | Jamaica | 5,000 | 5,000 |
International Military Education and Training | Jamaica | 573 | 600 |
Jamaica Total | 5573 | 5600 | |
Development Assistance | Latin America and Caribbean Regional | 15,500 | 17,071 |
Economic Support Fund | Latin America and Caribbean Regional | 750 | – |
Global Health Programs – USAID | Latin America and Caribbean Regional | 6250 | 6,250 |
Latin America and Caribbean Regional Total | 22500 | 23,321 | |
Economic Support Fund | Mexico | 46,100 | 49,004 |
Foreign Military Financing | Mexico | 4,675 | 3,000 |
International Military Education and Training | Mexico | 1,483 | 1,500 |
International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement
|
Mexico | 110,000 | 80,000 |
Mexico Total | 162,258 | 133,504 | |
Development Assistance | Nicaragua | 3,000 | 14,500 |
Economic Support Fund | Nicaragua | 9,000 | – |
International Military Education and Training | Nicaragua | 54 | 300 |
Nicaragua Total | 12054 | 14800 | |
Foreign Military Financing | Panama | 1,800 | 2,000 |
International Military Education and Training | Panama | 782 | 700 |
Panama Total | 2582 | 2700 | |
Development Assistance | Paraguay | 7,500 | 5,801 |
International Military Education and Training | Paraguay | 480 | 460 |
Paraguay Total | 7980 | 6261 | |
Development Assistance | Peru | 8,500 | 9,000 |
Economic Support Fund | Peru | 36,000 | 36,960 |
Foreign Military Financing | Peru | 1,800 | 1,000 |
International Military Education and Training | Peru | 629 | 600 |
International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement
|
Peru | 37,000 | 33,500 |
Peru Total | 83,929 | 81,060 | |
Development Assistance | South America Regional | 12,000 | 1,741 |
South America Regional Total | 12,000 | 1,741 | |
International Military Education and Training | Suriname | 199 | 215 |
Suriname Total | 199 | 215 | |
International Military Education and Training | The Bahamas | 200 | 200 |
The Bahamas Total | 200 | 200 | |
International Military Education and Training | Trinidad and Tobago | 308 | 325 |
Trinidad and Tobago Total | 308 | 325 | |
International Military Education and Training | Uruguay | 550 | 500 |
Uruguay Total | 550 | 500 | |
Economic Support Fund | Venezuela | 4,256 | 5,500 |
Venezuela Total | 4,256 | 5,500 | |
Inter-American Foundation | Western Hemisphere Regional | 22,500 | 22,500 |
Migration and Refugee Assistance | Western Hemisphere Regional | 47,765 | 45,300 |
OAS Development Assistance | Western Hemisphere Regional | 3,400 | 3,000 |
OAS Fund for Strengthening Democracy | Western Hemisphere Regional | 4,500 | 4,000 |
Economic Support Fund | Western Hemisphere Regional | 12,000 | 12,000 |
Foreign Military Financing | Western Hemisphere Regional | 0 | 10,000 |
Western Hemisphere Regional Total | 90,165 | 96,800 | |
Grand Total | 1,629,467 | 1,784,379 |
(All amounts in thousands of U.S. dollars)