Category: Central and Latin America

Fact sheet

• Population: 6,528,135 (July 2021 est.)
• Capital: San Salvador
• System of Governance: Presidential Republic
• President: Nayib Armando Bukele
• Majority Language: Spanish
• Majority Religion: Roman Catholic
• GDP Per Capita: $4,187 (2019)
• Global Freedom Score: 52

Brief History with the U.S.

The United States first established diplomatic relations with El Salvador in 1963. In 1979, the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (abbreviated as FMLN according to its Spanish name) emerged as a prominent guerrilla organization and entered a twelve-year long conflict with the government of El Salvador. During the 1980s, the U.S. government spent 4 billion dollars in military aid, funding the Salvadoran government’s counterinsurgency campaign against the FMLN. The U.S. also trained the Salvadoran military and provided weapons for the war effort. 

In similar fashion to the case of Guatemala, it became increasingly clear to the U.S. public that the Salvadoran government was engaging in egregious human rights violations. The most emblematic case was the assassination of four American nuns at the hands of Salvadoran forces. In 1992, the U.S. supported a U.N.-mediated peace treaty, which ended the hostilities between the Salvadoran government and the FMLN; the latter became a political party that still exists today. It is estimated that the civil war led to 75,000 casualties, most of whom were civilians. 

Many Salvadorans, overwhelmingly single males, fled the civil war and emigrated to Mexico and the U.S. in the 1980s. Many formed their own criminal organizations in southern California, such as the Mara Salvatrucha and Barrio 18 gangs. Years later, the U.S. government deported them, unknowingly expanding these criminal webs to the Northern Triangle. This, coupled with El Salvador’s war-torn economy and poor governance, bred unprecedented violence and crime. These conditions accelerated the migration of Salvadorans to the U.S.; consequently, at least 20% of El Salvador’s population lives abroad. 

After decades of military rule and civil conflict, El Salvador managed to establish a relatively stable multi-party democracy. Despite recurring tensions, the U.S. worked with two consecutive FMLN administrations; however, many challenges persist. In 2015, El Salvador recorded a high rate of 105 murders per 100,000 people, the highest in the world at the time. These staggering levels of violence, which continue to prompt millions to migrate to the U.S. every year, have been a main concern for U.S. policy-makers. From 2013 to 2018, the U.S. allocated $496 million dollars to support El Salvador’s security, economic development, and governance. One of the primary goals of U.S. aid is to address the push factors that encourage Salvadorans to migrate north. Besides implementing development projects through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.S. government has invested in combating poverty and stimulating growth with the Millenium Challenge Corporation, which amounts to $277 million dollars. 

El Salvador’s current president, Nayib Bukele, has proven to be a reliable ally and has aligned his country’s foreign policy with  the U.S. However, his occasional disregard for El Salvador’s Supreme Court and Congress, as well as his strategy to increase El Salvador’s diplomatic proximity with China have raised alarms in Washington. 

Strategic Interests: 

• Trade: The United States is El Salvador’s main trading partner. El Salvador was the first country to sign the Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR). In 2019, the United States amassed an $889 million trade surplus with El Salvador. 
• Migration: Migration has been at the forefront of U.S. relations with El Salvador. As of 2017, some 1.4 million Salvadoran citizens lived in the United States, and roughly half of them were undocumented. In addition, the Temporary Protected Status for Salvadorans is part of the current debate on immigration reform. 
• Corruption: Major obstacles to the success of U.S. development aid are institutional weakness and corruption.  Modeled after the CICIG in Guatemala, El Salvador established the International Commission Against Impunity in El Salvador (CICIES) in 2019. Supported by the U.S., CICIES prosecutors brought charges against three Salvadoran presidents and a former attorney general. It is estimated that they stole more than $750 million dollars. Despite such an achievement, the CICIES is underfunded and lacks autonomy. In addition, there are concerns that Bukele, the current president, has engaged in an under-the-table deal with gang leaders. 
• Combating Drug-trafficking: Similar to Guatemala, El Salvador is a strategic passage used by narco-traffickers to trade narcotics. In 2019, former President Trump designated El Salvador as a “major drug-transit” country for the ninth consecutive year. 
• Human Rights: El Salvador’s Supreme Court overturned a 1993 amnesty law in July 2016, so Salvadoran authorities have recently begun to investigate mass atrocities committed during the civil war (1980-1992), including the well-known massacre of El Mozote, where U.S.-trained military forces killed almost 1,000 civilians. Since 2012, the U.S. government has tried at least four former Salvadoran officials for their involvement in human rights abuses during the civil war.  In recent years, the government has turned to a “mano dura” or “tough-on-crime” approach to counter gang activity; however, critics point out that these tactics have resulted in overcrowding of prisons and led to human rights abuses committed by law enforcement, and perpetrators are rarely investigated. Lastly, President Bukele has taken actions to restrict the presence of journalists and human rights activists in El Salvador. 
• Diplomacy: Under President Bukele, El Salvador has grown closer to China. In December of 2019, Bukele accepted a $56.8 million donation from Beijing during a presidential trip to China and severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan soon after. U.S. State Department officials note that “China continues to push its Belt and Road Initiative in El Salvador.” The Belt and Road Initiative is an ambitious, long-term infrastructure plan to increase Chinese trade with the rest of the world. As a response, the U.S. publicly signaled disapproval for El Salvador’s realignment with China, and promised to invest $1 billion in a new natural gas power plant in the country.  

Fact sheet

• Population: 17,422,821 (July 2021 est.)
• Capital: Guatemala City
• System of Governance: Presidential Republic
• President: Alejandro Eduardo Giammattei 
• Majority Language: Spanish
• Majority Religion: Roman Catholic
• GDP Per Capita: $11,433
• Global Freedom Score: 52

Brief History with the U.S. 

According to the Department of State, relations between Guatemala and the U.S. have been close, but are occasionally strained by human rights and military issues. The United States established diplomatic relations with Guatemala in 1849, after the latter gained its independence from Spain and seceded from the Central American Federation. In 1954, Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz put forward a comprehensive land reform, expropriating a portion of the land owned by the American United Fruit Company. Having close family ties to United Fruit, Allen Dulles, the Head of the CIA, and John Dulles, the then-Secretary of State, devised a plan to destabilize Arbenz’s government, which the Eisenhower administration believed to be a communist influence in the region and, consequently, carried out a successful coup. 

In the 1960s and onwards, rebel activity against the Guatemalan government initiated a thirty-six-year long civil war. The insurgents were inspired by the success of Fidel Castro’s revolution in Cuba. During the Guatemalan civil war, the U.S. provided military aid and training to the Guatemalan government as it executed a counterinsurgency campaign against the rebels. American military and financial support for anti-communist regimes and proxy wars became more common in Central America as U.S. policy-makers became increasingly concerned with what they perceived as Soviet influence in Latin America. In 1977, U.S. President Jimmy Carter suspended aid to the Guatemalan government because of its alleged role in human rights violations. Congress became more restrictive with aid, requesting human rights improvements from recipient countries. However, in 1982, President Ronald Reagan decided to continue the transfer of military aid to Guatemala. 

Three decades of civil conflict led to economic devastation and political instability. The death toll caused by the war is estimated to have amounted to 200,000 deaths, mostly indigenous Guatemalans, and thousands of people internally displaced, with the government being responsible for 93% of the human rights violations. Many fled and moved to Mexico and the U.S. The Guatemalan population living in the U.S. rose during the civil war from 13,785 in 1977 to 45,917 at the peak in 1989.

In 1993, the United Nations sponsored a truth commission to put an end to the strenuous conflict, but the war left endless devastation. The commission found that the army was responsible for the majority of the human rights abuses, and that indigenous peoples had suffered the most. Historic peace accords were signed in 1996, finally ending the decades-long conflict. Nevertheless, the war-torn Guatemalan economy, coupled with the legacy of violence, pushed many to migrate to the U.S. seeking security and economic opportunities. By 2010, Guatemalans were the 10th largest foreign-born population in the US., and, in 2017, the number of Guatemalans in the U.S. surpassed 1.4 million. 

In recent years, U.S. policy towards Guatemala has focused on curbing migration through development aid, economic integration, and anti-corruption initiatives. Since 2001, the U.S. government has provided $2.6 billion in foreign aid to Guatemala, which has been used to fund development and crime prevention projects implemented by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Inter-American Development Bank. The U.S. has opted for economic integration as a strategy to promote economic growth in Guatemala. In 2006, Guatemala joined the Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR), exponentially strengthening the economic links between the two nations. In terms of governance, the U.S. was a critical supporter of the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) (discussed below). Yet, the past two administrations have been involved in corruption scandals and mismanagement, which has undermined the U.S.-funded development programs. Guatemala’s current president, Alejandro Giamattei, has been embroiled in several corruption scandals. He was himself imprisoned as a result of a CICIG investigation into extrajudicial killings. In addition, Giammattei’s approval of budget cuts for healthcare and education fueled violent demonstrations just a few days after the hurricanes Eta and Iota hit the country in December of 2020. 

Strategic Interests

• Economic cooperation: Since the Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) went into effect, U.S. exports to Guatemala have increased by 107%. The products that the U.S. imports from Guatemala amount to almost $2 billion, making it one of the largest agricultural suppliers. Although the commercial balance used to favor Guatemala, the U.S. has enjoyed a trade surplus in recent years. Guatemala is the United States’ 43rd largest trading partner. 
• Migration management: Approximately 1.5 million people living in the U.S. claim Guatemalan ethnicity. The migration of Guatemalans to the U.S. accelerated during the civil war and continued in the 2000s fueled by lack of economic opportunity, natural disasters, and family reunification. Guatemalans, unlike their neighbors in El Salvador and Honduras, have not been granted Temporary Protected Status (TPS). In response to the 2014 record surges in immigration from Guatemala and the rest of Northern Triangle countries, the U.S. began to fund ambitious development projects that aimed to reduce emigration to the U.S. During his administration, President Donald Trump prioritized security over the United States’ traditional development agenda by pressuring the Guatemalan government to deter Guatemalans from migrating to the U.S. and to accept repatriation flights. The current American Vice President, Kamala Harris, visited Guatemala this past June, promising to combat corruption in order to tackle migration and told Guatemalans publicly not to come to the U.S. 
• Drug-trafficking: It is estimated that 1,000 megatons of cocaine are smuggled through the country each year, primarily destined for the U.S. market. According to the State Department, in 2017, Guatemala arrested 106 high-profile drug-traffickers. The current government fiercely opposes legalization of illicit drugs and has doubled the budget allocated to counternarcotics. In exchange, the United States provides technical assistance and supports capacity-building of the Guatemalan police forces and judicial institutions.
• Anti-corruption and governance:  Since 2001, the U.S. has worked to support Guatemala’s post-conflict democracy. The U.S. was a key sponsor of the U.N.-backed International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), providing crucial diplomatic and financial support ($44 million) to this initiative since its inception in 2007. This anti-corruption commission was highly successful, contributing to the conviction of several high-ranking officials, including former President and dictator Efraín Ríos Montt for the crime of genocide commmitted against the Mayan peoples during the civil war. Guatemala became the first country to ever convict a former leader of genocide. The CICIG also brought corruption charges against former President Jimmy Morales, who responded with attempts to curtail the corruption investigations multiple times. The CICIG operated for twelve years until its collapse in 2019, when the Trump administration withdrew U.S. support in exchange for tougher migration restrictions, and Jimmy Morales refused to renew the commission’s mandate. 
• Human rights: The U.S. and U.N.-backed CICIG investigated human rights violations that took place during the civil war, including sexual violence committed by the military. The commission also revealed that the military was involved in multiple disappearances during the armed conflict. More recently, U.S. embassy officials have voiced concerns about the Guatemalan government’s refusal to work with specific sectors of civil society, in particular human rights activists, protectors of human trafficking victims, and advocates for the LGBTQ+ community and the indigenous peoples of Guatemala. In 2018 alone, over 200 attacks against human rights defenders were reported.

The “Northern Triangle” compromises the three Central American nations of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. Despite their small size, these countries have played an outsized role in U.S. foreign and domestic politics due to their strategic location in the Western Hemisphere. It is estimated that the U.S. has directly or indirectly intervened in Central America nineteen times between 1898 and 1994. Traditionally, the U.S. has had a military presence in the Northern Triangle, particularly during the Cold War, as Washington supported counterinsurgency campaigns in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua.

Source: Europa

In recent years, American involvement in the region has shifted to encompass a wider range of interests such as protecting trade, promoting human rights and economic growth, reducing emigration, combating drug-trafficking and corruption, and containing Chinese influence in the region. As a result, the U.S. has a uniquely intertwined relationship with the Northern Triangle, to the extent that the economic and political conditions in the U.S. have a major impact on the region and vice versa. Increasingly, emigration is shaping this relationship, as Central Americans escape violence and poverty.  With more than 3.5 million Central Americans living in the U.S., the Northern Triangle economies heavily rely on remittances from abroad. They make up 21% of the region’s economic output. In addition, the number of Guatemalans, Hondurans, and Salvadorans who migrate to the U.S. has averaged 311,000 annually in recent years. The recent—and unprecedented—number of Central Americans seeking asylum in the U.S. attests to the reciprocal relationship these countries have, and this interconnectedness will likely intensify in the upcoming years. 

The most recent U.S. approach to migration from the Northern Triangle has been a combination of changes in immigration law combined with conditional development aid. The Trump administration placed an emphasis on reducing migration. After a spike in the number of migrants and asylum-seekers, President Trump demanded that the governments of northern Central America deter its citizens from embarking upon their journey to the U.S. and signed “Third Safe Country” agreements that obliged these countries to receive U.S. deportees. He also dramatically reduced aid to the region. Although the Biden administration has rescinded the asylum agreements, it has upheld this deterrence approach while increasing investment to “address the root causes of migration.” President Biden recently approved a $4 billion plan to reduce migration by combating corruption and drug-trafficking and implementing development projects. 

Fact Sheet 

• Population: 45,864,941 (July 2021 est.)
• Capital: Buenos Aires
• System of Governance: Presidential Republic
• Chief of State and Head of Government: President Alberto Ángel Fernández
• Majority Language: Spanish
• Majority Religions: Christianity (Roman Catholic, 92%; Protestant, 2%)
• GDP Per Capita: $22,064 (2019 est. in 2010 U.S. dollars)

History of Relationship Between the U.S. and Argentina

The U.S. government officially recognized the Government of Buenos Ayres, what would become the Argentine Republic, in 1823, seven years after its declaration of independence from Spain. Though recognized by the United States and other foreign powers, this government struggled to establish itself as the legitimate government in the country, repeatedly facing challenges to its attempts to centralize power in Buenos Aires and efforts by its neighbors to assume control over the borderlands. During this period of intermittent conflict, power was consolidated in the office of the president and the military gained a position of prominence. The consequences of these trends would be borne out decades later.

For much of its early history, the country was controlled by a democratically elected government. However, popular dissatisfaction with its inability to rectify the country’s economic crisis during the Great Depression, in addition to conservative and liberal frustration with the government’s neutrality during World War II, caused it to lose popularity and resulted in a number of exchanges of power over the course of the early 20th century. It was following this period of instability that, in 1943, the government was overthrown in a coup and Juan Perón ascended to power. Perón was a divisive leader, and his tenure preceded another period of political turmoil and instability leading to the Guerra Sucia (Dirty War). During this seven-year period, tens of thousands of Argentine citizens were summarily executed for suspected links to anti-government insurgent groups, a tragedy which would come to have lasting effects on the country. This was a tumultuous period for US relations. Members of the US government were divided over whether to support the Perón dictatorship in an effort to limit the spread of communism or recenter issues of human rights in U.S. foreign policy.

In 1983, democracy was restored in Argentina and it has remained as a stable constitutional republic though the country faced a series of economic crises in subsequent years. These crises cemented economic relations between Argentina and the United States. Argentina’s economic recovery from a crisis in the 1990s occurred at the peak of neoliberalism’s popularity, and is often touted as a shining example of the potential success of Washington Consensus policies. Relations between the two countries remained largely concerned with issues of trade, lending, and monetary policy into the 20th century. Though U.S. strategic interests have shifted in recent years, the two remain close partners.

U.S. Strategic Interests in Argentina

The United States’ main strategic interests in Argentina and South America as a whole are the promotion of democracy and human rights, counterterrorism, rule of law, regional economic integration, resource and infrastructure development, and citizen security. In an effort to advance these interests, the United States has engaged Argentina in a number of bilateral and multilateral agreements and provides financial, advisory, and other forms of assistance in exchange for their cooperation.  

In recent years, counterterrorism, both regional and international, has become increasingly important in U.S.-Argentine relations. The two countries worked closely in the development of the Western Hemisphere Counterterrorism Ministerial (WHCM) which has advocated for Latin American countries to follow the American lead on terrorist designations including Hezbollah in Lebanon. The United States also provides assistance to the Argentine military and law enforcement agencies, in the form of training and education programs, technical assistance, and financial support, in an effort to advance the country’s counterterrorism efforts.

The United States has sought cooperation from the Argentine government on issues related to the transnational trafficking of illicit drugs. To this end, the U.S. State Department’s International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Bureau has implemented a number of programs designed to encourage inter-agency cooperation between American and Argentine law enforcement. Among these programs are the 2016 Preventing and Combating Serious Crime Agreement, which sought to facilitate information sharing between law enforcement agencies in each country, and the 2017 bilateral working group on cybersecurity, which supported efforts to identify and root out illegal activities conducted virtually. 

Fact Sheet

• Population: 18,307,925 (July 2021 est.)
• Capital: Santiago; the national legislature is seated in Valparaíso
• System of Governance: Presidential Republic
• Chief of State and Head of Government: President Sebastián Piñera Echenique
• Majority Language: Spanish
• Majority Religion: Christianity (Roman Catholic, 66.7%; Protestant or Evangelical, 16.4%), Not Religious (11.5%)
• GDP Per Capita: $24,226 (2019 est. in 2010 U.S. dollars)

History of Relationship Between the U.S. and Chile

The United States formally established diplomatic relations with Chile in 1824. Constant political infighting characterized early Chilean history. In 1830, a conservative majority took control of the government and maintained control for over thirty years. The latter half of the 19th century saw Chile’s slow liberalization, though the country would soon become the site of intercontinental conflict in the War of the Pacific when Chile faced off against the combined forces of Peru and Bolivia. The Chilean government turned down US support out of concern for US influence in the region. This decision to limit American influence in Chile stunted the development of relations between the two countries. 

The Chilean grew dissatisfied with the oligarchical ruling class and became frustrated with the country’s faltering economy. Popular discontent led to the Radical Period of Chilean politics where the government was led by a coalition of leftist parties and politicians. Through the following decades, political power alternated between traditionalist and leftist coalitions. Both groups advocated for pro-worker and protectionist economic policies, which ultimately bred dissatisfaction among the country’s elites. The wealthy elite supported the 1973 military coup in an effort to reassert their power, and a brutal dictatorship was established under the leadership of Augusto Pinochet. This political transition at the height of the Cold War garnered the support of high-level officials within the U.S. government who sought to limit the spread of communism in the Western Hemisphere. Though American support  increased during this period, relations between the two countries remained strained.

In 2000 Chile began the long process of reestablishing democracy. Though the country has since been rocked by natural disasters and popular protests, Chile has undertaken reforms to provide civilians with greater control over their government and reduce corruption.

U.S. Strategic Interests in Chile

Since Chile’s return to democracy in the late 20th-century, the United States has worked to maintain a close relationship. Issues of particular importance include environmental protection and research, trade, and cooperation on sustainable development projects in the Southern Cone and the Andean Region.

A number of U.S. agencies maintain an active presence in Chile, including the Environmental Protection Agency, National Parks Service, and National Science Foundation. These organizations collaborate with their local counterparts in order to conduct research and develop best practices related to issues of conservation, agriculture, and climate change. They focus on enforcing environmental regulations and managing protected areas. In an effort to address Chile’s lack of enforcement capacity and support the country’s conservation efforts, the United States has encouraged the use of its own environmental technologies and provided technical expertise through the implementation of the U.S.-Chile Environmental Cooperation Agreement. Chile has also partnered with a number of U.S. states to advance research and advocacy for clean energy infrastructure and low-carbon economies. These programs are intended to leverage the resources and technologies developed in the private sector as well as research conducted by public universities in the states, allowing for less bureaucratized engagement between cutting edge conservation technologies and the governments which seek to employ them.

The countries also collaborate to support sustainable development and anti-corruption initiatives across Latin America. The U.S.-Chile Trilateral Development Initiative aims to support sustainable development and encourage political stability and good governance. Chile has also worked with the United States in its peacekeeping efforts in Colombia.