Central America prepares for a flood of U.S. aid to combat violence

COLÓN, El Salvador — As police commander in one of the most dangerous cities in one of the world's deadliest countries, Marco Tulio Lima Molina has a long list of things he needs for his force.

He only has 150 working radios for his 350 officers. He needs more operators to staff his 911 call center, laptop computers for his patrol cars and surveillance cameras to monitor high-risk areas.

But ask Lima Molina how his city could benefit from a flood of U.S. aid that is on its way, and he doesn't mention those needs.

"Youth programs," he said during a recent tour of his city. "There are 50,000 children here and they don't have opportunities to be educated, to learn or even places to play. Even if they study, there's nothing for them to do."

Molina's answer reflects a changing view in Central America about how best to use foreign aid to control the raging violence that has tormented the region and driven tens of thousands of its citizens fleeing to the United States

When Congress approved a $750 million aid package for El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala in December, it shifted the focus toward helping local leaders improve their economies and communities rather than simply bolstering their security.

Last year, 57% of U.S. assistance to the region was dedicated to economic and civilian aid programs, with the rest going toward security, military and rule of law programs, according to an analysis by the Washington Office on Latin America, a research group. When Congress passed a new aid package for 2016, it dedicated 66% of U.S. aid to economic and civilian institution programs. And in 2017, the White House is asking for that figure to increase to 69%.

"I think what's happened over time is we've gone through cycles of emphasis, you might call them, where we believed that the problem was security," said James Nealon, the U.S. ambassador to Honduras. "I think, maybe not surprisingly, we've learned from that history."

The three countries that make up the Northern Triangle of Central America still are some of the most violent in the world, so the U.S. will continue funding programs designed to help those governments fight back against drug cartels and rival gangs.

The U.S. Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs helped create and equip a specialized police force in Honduras called Los Tigres that serve as a roaming SWAT team. In 2015, the group ran 150 missions and arrested 740 people, which included 75 who had homicide warrants.

U.S. embassies in Central America also have been helping local police forces vet prospective officers. For a region that has long struggled with corruption in its ranks, that aid is critical to screening out people with criminal histories and gang ties.

The U.S. also has helped create "model police precincts" that integrate crime-predicting technology, surveillance cameras and improved communication systems.

In Honduras, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent is training a new team of Honduran border agents to screen people and cargo flowing in and out of the country. And in El Salvador, a U.S. Department of Justice official is embedded with an anti-extortion unit that has racked up more than 300 arrests in the past year.

Yet even local law enforcement officials who benefit from that aid say more money needs to go elsewhere. "We can improve our capabilities, we can put more gang members in jail, but that's not going to solve the problem," said Orlin Cerrato, director of intelligence for the Honduran National Police. "The focus has to be bigger."

That means more education programs like one in San Vicente, El Salvador, where the U.S. and Microsoft have teamed up to provide computer training for children and young adults.

That also means more community cleanups like one in the San Martin neighborhood of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, which sits between areas run by two of the biggest gangs in the country: MS-13 and the 18th Street Gang. With the help of the U.S. Agency for International Development, volunteers from the community cleaned up and repainted the central square, formed committees to work with local police and turned an old building into an "outreach center" — a safe zone for children to study after work.

The agency is helping create similar outreach centers throughout Honduras to give teens and young adults job training in different fields, job placement assistance, computer training and individual counseling.

That kind of specialized attention is the most effective way to divert them from gangs and cartels, said Guillermo Cespedes, the former "gang czar" of Los Angeles who is using a $20 million U.S. grant for youth programs.

Cespedes said the approach is similar to what he did in L.A.: focusing on youths who are at the highest risk of joining a gang. "The right dosage for the right level of infection," Cespedes said.

Central American leaders say they appreciate the aid but know they can't count on U.S. support indefinitely. Fernando Ferrera, who runs a program that's building youth outreach centers in Honduras, recently signed a five-year contract where his organization and the U.S. split the cost. After that, his organization plans to cover the full cost.

"The American people deserve to know that we're not a new child that they're going to have to support forever," he said.