Problems with Merida Imitative says GAO

A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found problems with the carrying out of a $1.6 billion counternarcotics plan to Mexico and Central America.

Only 9% of the aid under the Merida Imitative has been spent between 2008 and 2010 according to the GAO report, which was presented to the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere yesterday. The report noted that there was a lack of sufficient oversight over the plan including the failure of setting targets to see if aid was being spent properly. The GAO even said in their study that Mexico has purchased some equipment on its own due to the delay in receiving Merida Initiative funds.

Federal officials tried to emphasize the increased collaboration with Mexico as a positive result from the Merida Initiative. "We are determined, working with Mexico, to do everything in our power to reduce this violence," said State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley to the press. For one analyst, however, the GAO report shows several shortcomings of the U.S. antidrug strategy:

The shortfall in U.S. assistance hurts Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s fight against organized crime, said Adam Isacson, senior associate at the Washington Office on Latin America, a human rights and policy research group...

“When you consider the urgency with which politicians talk about violence in Mexico and the threat it poses to us, to have only delivered 9 percent after two years is pretty remarkable,” Isacson said in a telephone interview from Washington.

The agency’s study was published days after one of the bloodiest weekends in Mexico including a car bombing and numerous shootings.

One Mexican government estimate said that almost 25,000 deaths related to organized crime have occurred since Felipe Calderon became president in December 2006.

Image- Los Angeles Times (eighteen people were killed when gunmen opened fire at a party over the weekend in Torreon, Mexico).
Online Sources- AP, The Latin Americanist, Voice of America, New York Times, Bloomberg

Daily Headlines: September 21, 2009

* U.S.: According to the Government Accountability Office, the U.S.-Mexico border barrier will cost $6.5 billion over the next 20 years and the fence has been broken into at least 3,363 times.

* Brazil: “We want the public to become aware of our struggle and of the difficulties of inclusion, of accessibility… and that is what we came to show,” said one of the hundreds of disabled Brazilians who demonstrated yesterday.

* Argentina: According to the local press Argentina will make an offer to payback part of a multibillion dollar debt to the Paris Club group of creditor countries.

* Peru: President Alan Garcia's approval rating continues to be very low (28%) as anger continues over June’s deadly clashes between police and protestors.

Image- CBS News (“The $6.5 billion price tag is in addition to the $2.4 billion that has already been spent to build fence segments along the U.S.-Mexico border.”)
Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, AP, LAHT, Forbes.com, Reuters

GAO: Deputizing police for ICE doesn’t work

The intended targets: serious criminals such as drug smugglers.

Those who are arrested: usually minor offenders for crimes like loitering and public urination.

A report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) concluded that the deputizing of local law enforcement officers to serve as Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents has been mostly a failure.

Aside from mostly targeting minor infractions as described above, the GAO study also found that officers “misuse(d) their authority” due to a lack of federal supervision under the program known as 287(g).

The 287(g) program has been employed by numerous local agencies nationwide. The most notable example being by controversial Arizonan sheriff Joe Arpaio who recently paraded illegal immigrants in striped suits and chains in front of the media.

The GAO report comes in anticipation of a House committee hearing later today on suspected racial profiling in federal immigration policy:

Representative Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat and chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, which will hold the hearing on Wednesday, said in a statement that “the record is incomplete, at best, as to whether this program is a success.”

“Without objective data, we cannot evaluate the effectiveness of this program, nor can we determine whether better results could be achieved by other means, such as increasing the number of ICE agents,” he said…

Representative Lamar Smith, Republican of Texas, who was instrumental in getting the program started in 1996, said, “Law enforcement officials believe that this voluntary program works.” He added, “Those who are serious about public safety should call for its expansion.”

The GAO report comes days after research and advocacy group Justice Strategies blasted the 287 (g) program for ineffectiveness and racial profiling. Additionally, the Migration Policy Institute recently concluded that most immigrants detained by ICE were nonviolent offenders.

Image- ABC News
Online Sources- azcentral.com, KPHO.com, the Latin Americanist, New York Times, AP, UPI

GAO questions Radio and TV Marti

A report issued by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) questioned the efficacy of U.S.-funded radio and television broadcasts to Cuba.

The report concluded that less than 2% of Cubans have heard or watched TV and Radio Martí over the past year. In addition, the GAO suggested that the Office of Cuba Broadcasting (OCB) significantly improve its programming and journalistic standards in order to justify its $34 million yearly budget.

OCB director Pedro Roig questioned the report's surveying methods and claimed that the data doesn’t “fully reflect the difficulties in broadcasting to a closed society."

The GAO report also found other interesting nuggets of information such as some watching habits Cubans:

_U.S. officials have little information about how Cuba jams the signals and where its equipment is located. The most recent data indicates most jamming takes place around Cuba's capital, Havana.

_Problems remain with journalistic standards of objectivity and balance on some Marti programs. Sometimes unsubstantiated reports from Cuba are included in news programming.

_ More than 90 percent of the telephone survey respondents say they watch Cuba national TV broadcasts, including such popular U.S. shows as "The Sopranos" and "Grey's Anatomy." Cuba also regularly rebroadcasts portions of CNN on its stations.

Image- daylife.com (“Pedro de Pool, left, Roberto Bermudez, center, and Aristides P. Quinteros, right, are shown during a live broadcast of Radio Marti News magazine "En Directo" to Cuba in Miami, Friday, June 22, 2007.”)
Online Sources- The Swamp, Riptide 2.0, Denver Post, IHT