‘Public Safety’ Programs in Latin America.
President Obama’s special advisor for the Summit of the Americas, Jeffrey Davidow, announced the administration’s new plan to provide U.S.-funded “public safety” programs to other governments throughout the Western Hemisphere.
U.S. public safety programs are necessary now, Davidow said, because “Latin America [and] the Caribbean are witnessing an increase in criminality and are having difficulty confronting this because of judicial and police systems that need assistance, need more training, need more equipment.”
The United States has pursued similar policies in the past—with disastrous results.
Initially, these “security” initiatives were enforced through direct U.S. military occupation. In 1954 a separate “civilian” agency specializing in police aid was established. The newly formed agency was named The Civil Police Administration (CPA), and began operating in Guatemala after the 1954 CIA-backed coup that removed the democratically elected government of Jacobo Arbenz.
In 1961, President Kennedy formed the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and rolled the CPA into the new agency, renaming it the Office of Public Safety (OPS). Official literature described OPS’s goal as the creation of a “carefully balanced program of technical advice, training and equipment.”
In reality, the United States used the OPS to control the behavior of foreign police for its own political ends. (And maybe still does?)
Assassination, kidnapping and torture were(are) the weapons the OPS used(uses) to advance the US political agenda. In just a few short years, OPS officers were(are) running operations out of U.S. embassies, police headquarters and safe houses in 15 Latin American countries. Eventually, OPS extended into Asia and Africa. But wherever the OPS went, terror followed.
In July 2008, a U.S. security firm instructor was even caught on tape training Mexican police in torture techniques.
We should be wary of the dark waters this administration may be leading us into by expanding “public safety” policing programs. If the history of the OPS and similar projects are any indication of what will come, U.S. policing initiatives in Latin America and elsewhere will result in political repression, brutality, and more hatred of Americans.
I think we’ve all had enough of those.
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