• gAlienLifeform@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    9
    arrow-down
    6
    ·
    edit-2
    3 months ago
    • tabarnaski@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      3 months ago

      Thanks for the links!

      In the first report (the one from the GAO), it says that the DOD provided equipment to countries between 2018 and 2021 and that those countries used it to intimidate diplomats from the US, and more generally that the equipment was not used as intended. The report makes 5 recommendations to the defense secretary, 3 of which currently in the way of being applied by the DOD.

      The second reference, if I understand it correctly, tries to analyze the efficiency of US military aid, and states that even though this aid might not be as efficient as we think, is still useful to the president of the US as some kind of PR tool - it gives the impression the US is doing something. The last reference is a book on Amazon that I can’t read nor browse.

      I agree with you that the United States’ policy record with regards to South American countries is awful in many ways and has been for at least 50 years. But I don’t see how the articles you cited are related to Kamala Harris immigration record. Furthermore I don’t see how they are related to her job as a vice president or as a senator.

      • gAlienLifeform@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        3 months ago

        In the first report (the one from the GAO), it says that the DOD provided equipment to countries between 2018 and 2021

        Letter from a lawmaker in the fall of 2022 complaining about another transfer of military equipment and pointing out that these problems haven’t been addressed - https://web.archive.org/web/20221111005914/https://torres.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/rep-torres-demands-action-secretaries-austin-blinken-following-continued

        The report makes 5 recommendations to the defense secretary, 3 of which

        The DOD agreed were a good idea, there’s no indication they actually followed them. The remaining two they straight up refused.

        The second reference, if I understand it correctly, tries to analyze the efficiency of US military aid

        That’s something it mentions in passing, but it mainly focuses on how Presidents like military aid schemes because a) they have a ton of control over how the money Congress gives them for these things is actually spent (i.e. they can point out human rights abuses by the government Congress wants to aid or other foreign policy considerations and pause the spending if they care to do so) b) it’s an incredibly obscure and bureaucratic system of funds and equipment inventories and inter-agency task forces and such that’s difficult for journalists to follow and most Americans won’t care about anyway most of the time

        The last reference is a book on Amazon that I can’t read nor browse.

        Unfortunately I’m not a skilled enough pirate to have a good answer for that problem, but maybe find a copy through a library or something. It’s a MacArthur genius grant receiving anthropologist’s years long study of migrants and guides where he interviews a ton of them and immigration enforcers in all the different countries and comes across a bunch of different stories of human rights abuses carried out by Mexican and Central American authorities.