US Threatens Aid, Petro Says 'Nothing,' Forgetting What US Aid Is For
Colombia’s Gustavo Petro, a former M-19 guerrilla, told Al Jazeera that threatened US aid cuts are 'nothing.' While the dollar amount for 'democracy promotion' might seem trivial, Petro perhaps forgets that for decades, US 'aid' in Latin America meant military support for dictatorships or paramilitary groups to maintain 'stability' for corporate interests. From funding Contras in Nicaragua to Plan
Colombia's controversial anti-drug efforts which disproportionately affected indigenous communities, US 'assistance' often arrives with strings attached, or worse, with boots on the ground, as seen in the 1973 Chilean coup against Allende (as documented by the Church Committee, 1975). Petro's dismissal highlights a refreshing independence, but one might wonder if Washington's leverage truly relies
on paltry sums, or on its long, ugly history of 'regime change' operations in the hemisphere. The 'serious effects' he acknowledges from disrupted military cooperation hint at the deeper, more coercive forms of 'aid' the US reserves for disobedient leaders. When military cooperation is the stick, direct financial aid is merely pocket change.