Obama Fails to Reverse Militarisation of Latin America Policy http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51562

The report by three U.S. groups with close ties to non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the region found that the administration's military base agreement with Colombia, its equivocal response to the military coup d'etat in Honduras, and its failure to move more quickly to normalise relations with Cuba have been among the chief reasons for growing disillusionment.

Democrat and Republican administrations, have convinced us that the underlying structural relationship is only affected to a limited degree by the White House's current inhabitant," it said. "It has also convinced us that a growing trend towards the militarisation of U.S. foreign policy spans administrations," it concluded.

"We continue to see an increasing U.S. military role in relations with the region," said Joy Olsen, WOLA's director. "This is true whether the issue is military presence on the U.S.-Mexican border, the U.S. Southern Command filling the civilian leadership vacuum on inter-agency efforts, the emergence of new aid programmes in the defence budget, or a declared U.S. military interest in helping the region confront internal threats like gangs."