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Drug Wars Collateral Damage: US Counternarcotic Aid and Human Rights in the Americas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 September 2022

Horace A. Bartilow
Horace A. Bartilow*
Affiliation:
University of Kentucky
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Abstract

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Existing case-study research suggests that the recent increase in human rights violations in Latin America is attributed to the US-funded drug war. This narrative, which is referred to as the collateral damage perspective, stands in contrast to US human rights law, which makes governments' respect for human rights a precondition to receive aid. The apparent endogeneity between aid and human rights introduces bias that casts serious doubts on the validity of the collateral damage narrative. In addressing endogeneity, this article presents a simultaneous instrumental variable analysis of the human rights effects of US counternarcotic aid in the Americas. The results show that while counternarcotic aid to regimes increases overall violations of human rights, this effect is greater among democracies than autocracies. And with the exception of torture, this finding is consistent when disappearances, political imprisonment, and extrajudicial killings are also considered. The implication of this research suggests that policy makers in Washington risk losing regional support for US drug control policies if US laws that govern the allocation of aid are not effectively implemented.

Resumen

Resumen

La investigación de los estudios de caso actuales sugieren que el reciente aumento de las violaciones de los derechos humanos en América Latina se atribuye a la guerra contra las drogas, financiada por los Estados Unidos. Este relato, que se conoce como la perspectiva de daños colaterales, está en contraste con la ley de derechos humanos estadounidense, la cual hace que el respecto de los derechos humanos por parte de los gobiernos es una condición previa para recibir ayuda económica. La aparente endogeneidad entre la ayuda y los derechos humanos introduce sesgos que arrojan serias dudas sobre la validez del relato de los daños colaterales. A la hora de abordar la endogeneidad, este artículo presenta un análisis simultáneo de variables instrumentales de los efectos en los derechos humanos de la ayuda relacionada a “la guerra contra las drogas” por las Américas. Los resultados muestran que mientras luchar contra las drogas ayuda a los regímenes a aumentar las violaciones de los derechos humanos, este efecto es mayor entre las democracias que en las autocracias. Y, a excepción de la tortura, este hallazgo es consistente cuando las desapariciones, el encarcelamiento por motivos políticos y las ejecuciones extrajudiciales también se toman en consideración. Esta investigación sugiere que los responsables de las políticas de Washington corren el riesgo de perder el apoyo regional para las políticas de fiscalización de drogas de los Estados Unidos si las leyes estadounidenses que rigen la asignación de la ayuda no se aplican de manera efectiva.

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 49 , Issue 2 , 2014 , pp. 24 - 46
Copyright
Copyright © 2014 by the Latin American Studies Association

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