The United States has focused too much on security than on other aid in Latin America, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday, promising a concerted effort to foster democracy.
Amid a surge in both authoritarians and depopularists in Latin America, Blinken is visiting Ecuador and Colombia as President Joe Biden seeks to defend stable democracies.
Both nations receive US security training and are led by conservatives who have taken controversial measures, with Colombian forces killing dozens of anti-government protesters this year and Ecuador announced a state of emergency Tuesday just as Blinken visited.
“Our track record in improving civil security in the region’s democracies has been uneven,” Blinken went on to say in a speech Wednesday in the Ecuadorian capital Quito, according to excerpts from the advance.
“That’s because all too often, we try to fix this problem by relying too much on law enforcement training and equipment, and too little on other tools in our kit,” he said.
And we focus too much on addressing the symptoms of organized crime, such as homicides and drug trafficking, and too little on the root causes. We are working to correct that imbalance. “
Among US initiatives that go beyond security, Blinken pointed to the Biden administration’s biggest push to fight corruption, including the denial of visas to officials involved in bribery.
Blinken said the United States, along with its frequent calls for elections, would also be more attentive to economic concerns such as improving labor standards, health care and education.
“This should be obvious, but the reality is that we have often put more energy into strengthening civil and political rights, such as free and fair elections, the rule of law, freedom of expression and assembly, than in strengthening people’s rights, economic and social rights. “
The Biden administration, largely following the example of former President Donald Trump, has increased pressure on autocratic left-wing leaders in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, where President Nicolás Maduro has suspended dialogue with the US-backed opposition.
While US remarks have been more cautious, questions about democracy have also risen in the region’s most populous nation, Brazil, where far-right President Jair Bolsonaro has taken a page from Trump in questioning. the legitimacy of the next elections.
“We are at a time of democratic reckoning,” Blinken said.
While democracy in recent decades has brought “unprecedented prosperity” for Latin America, he was going to say that the future depended on whether the elected leaders can “deliver on the issues that matter most.Infobarcelona.cat Brief news.
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