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 News from Around the Americas | February 2008 
Bush Wants More Aid for Mexico
 Pablo Bachelet - Miami Herald
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| | Mexican President Felipe Calderón and US President George Bush (Pablo Martínez Monsiváis/AP) | | |
President Bush asked for a big increase in aid for Mexico and Central America in his 2009 budget proposal.
Washington - Central America and Mexico emerged the big winners in the budget submitted by President Bush on this week, with most other Latin American nations either holding their own or seeing some cuts.
In a State Department $39 billion spending bill for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, Cuba democracy programs would receive $20 million, down from $45 million the previous year as a result of a preprogrammed cut.
Colombia also would get less money, though the administration is attempting to restore some reductions in military aid mandated by Congress.
Three non-governmental organizations - the Center for International Policy, the Latin America Working Group Education Fund, and the Washington Office on Latin America - crunched the 2009 budget numbers and estimated that overall aid to Latin America would creep up to $2.3 billion from $2.2 billion, if the aid packages for Mexico and Central America are included.
"The big change is the big focus on Mexico and Central America, which of course Congress hasn't signed on to yet," said Adam Isacson, with the Center for International Policy, "but it's where they would like to go."
The State Department foreign aid bill is likely to come under scrutiny from Democrats, who in the past have attacked the Bush administration for focusing too much on military aid and cutting some U.S. Agency for International Development programs.
MONEY FOR MEXICO
Bush is asking for $477 million in 2009 to help Mexican President Felipe Calderón battle drug cartels, in addition to $500 million already requested in a 2008 supplemental budget proposal expected to be debated in Congress this spring.
Under the three-year program known as the Merida Initiative, Mexico is to get an array of new equipment and training. Central American nations would get $100 million in assistance, on top of $50 million in the supplemental bill.
On Cuba, a State Department budget document says the money seeks to bolster civil society on the island, assist "embattled human rights activists and independent journalists" and reach out to "courageous Afro-Cubans, women, youth and student activists." Aid for such Cuban opposition movements totaled $13 million in 2007.
The administration is also requesting $34 million for Radio and TV Martí broadcasts to Cuba.
In the 2008 budget, Democrats redirected millions in military aid for Colombia to civilian programs. The Bush administration wants Congress to reinstate nearly $100 million in military aid to $403 million in 2009 - roughly the level for 2007. Overall, Colombia would get $545 million in 2009, about even with 2008 but down from $618 million in 2007.
CUTS
The administration also is cutting some programs as it boosts others. For instance, two USAID programs - the Economic Support Funds and the Child Survival and Health Programs Fund - would see $152 million in combined cuts in the 2009 request.
These are partially offset by a $116 million boost in other development programs and a big increase sought for the Millennium Challenge Corp., Bush's signature aid program that seeks to reward countries that implement sound policies.
If Congress agrees to the Latin American budget request, Mexico would become the region's second largest recipient of U.S. aid in the three years ending 2009, obtaining $1.1 billion, after Colombia's $1.7 billion. Haiti, whose aid increases slightly, is third with $617 million.
pbachelet(at)MiamiHerald.com |
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