Government Relations

In the Wake of Secretary Rubio’s First International Trip, U.S. - Latin America Relations Must Center Human Rights

January 31, 2025 | by Daniel Noroña |Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Panama

LA PAZ, BOLIVIA - NOVEMBER 21: Police officers spray tear gas as a group of people carry a coffin of one of the victims killed during clashes with police at the Senkata fuel plant, during a funeral procession as demonstrators slash with the police on November 21, 2019 in La Paz, Bolivia. Police and military forces on Tuesday escorted gasoline tankers from a major fuel plant of YPFB in Senkata that had been blockaded for five days by Evo Morales' backers and at least eight people were reported killed during the operation. Opposition accuses Evo Morales of instigating and planning blockades of food and fuel. Street violence has killed 32 people since a disputed October 20 vote.
(Gaston Brito/Getty Images)

As Marco Rubio takes his first international trip as Secretary of State to Latin America (LATAM), Amnesty International urges him to reset the relationship between the United States and the region. 

The history of U.S. interventionism and hard-liner approaches towards Latin American countries, often undermining human rights, has left deep cuts and mistrust of the U.S. government. It’s time for a reset. 

U.S. foreign policy towards LATAM took on a more interventionist approach at the height of the Cold War. Under the guise of countering Soviet influence, the U.S. government played a role in overturning reformist political projects across Latin America to instead install U.S.-friendly heads of state — most notoriously in Guatemala in 1954, the Dominican Republic in 1965, and Chile in 1973, while at the same time propping up others in countries like Haiti. In Latin America, the application of the Monroe doctrine offered countries U.S. protection (whether requested or not), implementing a policy of inherent paternalism complemented by outright unilateralism and interventionism. Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger infamously said that the “issues are much too important for [Latin American] voters to be left to decide for themselves.”

Flash forward to the current context where the lack of concrete U.S. support for regional integration, weak domestic institutions (in-part influenced by former U.S. foreign policy , deterrence policies at the U.S. Mexico border and heavy investments in stopping regional migration flows,  and the interests of certain political and economic elites), have allowed criminal organizations to strengthen, and poverty and inequality to increase, leading to a rise in militarization and civic space restriction as reactions to the threats created by these groups. 

Against this backdrop, Latin America has seen an uptick in criminal activity, resulting in a mass movement of people fleeing systematic human rights violations. The United States has seen a marked increase of the number of people attempting to seek safety at the U.S. Southern Border, further enriching criminal organizations who have been bolstered by lack of access to safe pathways to the United States. 

The U.S. must focus on a regional strategy to protect and promote human rights in LATAM and at the U.S. border.

Civil society groups working towards human rights in the LATAM region are urging the U.S. to be a partner in upholding human rights, ending authoritarian practices, and protecting human rights defenders and other individuals at risk. The U.S. must support them.  

As Secretary of State Marco Rubio steps into this relationship between nations in the western hemisphere he can – and must – lead a change in policy towards the Americas. Moving forward, the U.S. must center the promotion and protection of all human rights in LATAM as part of the U.S. policy of economic integration and development for the region. 

Invest in the Americas

The challenges facing the Western Hemisphere require collaboration, and Secretary Rubio can break with the decades of underinvestment in these relationships. In the region, there is a strong tradition of cooperation. 

First, was the creation of the Pan American Organization in 1915, which then led to the creation of the Organization of American States (OAS) in 1948. This is the main regional political institution that works on four pillars: democracy, human rights, sustainable development, and security. The OAS has served as the main regional forum for policy and for establishing a protection framework for human rights. For example, through the OAS most countries in the region can receive cooperation to oversee elections, strengthen their public safety capacities, and ensure the Rule of Law. Also, it serves as human rights oversight and monitoring entity through two bodies: the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and the Inter-American Court on Human RightsThe U.S. must continue its support for the OAS.

Although the OAS has been actively working since 1948, in recent years its impact and efficiency have been notably diminished due to the lack of political and financial support. For FY 2025, the former administration requested $2.2 billion in foreign assistance for Latin America and the Caribbean under accounts managed by the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). This includes the USG voluntary contribution to the OAS fund. Likewise, the previous administration requested considerable funds to continue implementation of the U.S. immigration policy abroad, which funds Safe Mobility Offices (SMO), but also other efforts focused on militarized responses to human displacement. The U.S. must prioritize the prevention of both violence and human rights violations in LATAM and safety for those seeking safety at the U.S. border.

This lack of strategic investment in the region has real costs. There is real and significant insecurity for many people living in Latin America, coupled with serious violations of human rights. In addition to extremely high murder rates throughout the region, numerous deaths in state custody, state-sponsored violence, and inhumane detention conditions, there are also other human rights violations endured by civilians.  For example, the exile of journalists, human rights defenders, and other individuals who face State persecution. The reasons for instability are wide and rooted in the non-compliance of States to meet their international and domestic legal obligations. 

Secretary Rubio must invest in horizontal relationships and cooperation. He must work with leaders throughout the Americas to protect human rights, promote regional prosperity, and fight transnational organized crime. Anything less will undermine efforts throughout LATAM to tackle ongoing human rights abuses. This work goes together in ensuring that the U.S. stops its mass detention and deportation agenda and defends the human right to seek asylum. 

Ongoing human rights challenges in the region

LATAM is facing several crises that require attention and a strategic and integral approach. Socioeconomic conditions deteriorated sharply in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic swept away more than a decade of development gains. According to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the impacts of the pandemic, such as increased poverty and the effect on household income and the labor market, are expected to deepen inequalities in the region. Coupled with this, Amnesty International noted the shrinking of civic space in the region (including here in the U.S.) has threatened the progress made in recent decades in relation to the protection and promotion of human rights. In an open letter Amnesty International alerted the governments of the Americas that this closure of civic space threatens human rights defenders, including grassroots communities and organizations, those who practice journalism, and people perceived as political opponents. Amnesty has expressed its concerns over increasing legislative efforts aimed at stifling civil society participation by demanding burdensome requirements for government registration or limiting their scope of actions. This has been especially worrisome in countries like Peru, Paraguay and Venezuela, which are mirroring the legislation from the repressive government in Nicaragua. 

Human rights defenders and journalists have been the targets of harassment, criminalization, abusive surveillance, attacks and killings. For example, in Ecuador, Amnesty documented how young human rights defenders were subject to persecution by State authorities after they denounced the lack of State action to shutdown gas flares in the Amazon. Additionally, most countries across the Americas lack effective protection systems for human rights defenders—with some being killed while already in these systems. Amnesty documented cases in Mexico where journalists were harassed or murdered, even though they were part of the protection mechanism in place. Human rights defenders in Venezuela are also at high risk of facing arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances and even torture, as in the cases of Javier Tarazona, Rocío San Miguel, Kennedy Tejeda and Carlos Julio Rojas. 

Peaceful demonstrations have been met with unlawful force by security forces, including those where the U.S. provides some sort of assistance. Authorities persisted in violating people’s rights to life, liberty, fair trial and physical integrity, freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, and arbitrary detentions are widespread. Notably in Peru, Amnesty analyzed important elements related to the chain of command and the events of state repression that occurred during the protests that took place between December of 2022 to March of 2023. Additionally, following the elections in Venezuela, Amnesty reported the mass arrest of people including children in the aftermath of protests after the official election results were announced by Maduro’s authorities. 

Furthermore, in the backdrop of rising insecurity and criminal organizations, most countries have resorted to militarization or “mano-dura” approaches to handle security. Most notably in El Salvador, Amnesty documented how mass arbitrary detentions, torture and ill treatment, and due process violations have occurred during the state of exception decreed by President Bukele. Additionally, in Ecuador,  people who are imprisoned are suffering the consequences of militarization of prisons within the context of the declared internal armed conflict, with local organizations reporting possible extrajudicial executions and other abuses by security forces who patrol the streets. 

Adding to this, the grave situation in Haiti continues to present challenges to the whole region, as the Dominican Republic — much like the U.S. — is instituting mass deportations through racist policies, and the Haitian security forces are still struggling to take control from armed gangs. A Multinational Security Support Mission (MSSM) has been put into place—primarily with U.S. funding– to aid the security forces, but questions surrounding its effectiveness and capacity to put in place robust mechanism of human rights safeguards are still looming, particularly in the absence of any clarity on where this administration lands on continuing support for it.

It is important that, in addressing this challenging regional setting, the U.S. make all diplomatic efforts to engage with all the countries in the hemisphere to uphold the basic tenants of the OAS Charter, which have been denounced by Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. In that sense, Secretary Rubio must ensure that the U.S. role in the region is one of stability and development, upholding human rights and contributing so that all countries in the region should meet that threshold. 

How can Secretary Rubio redefine U.S. policy in the region? 

To face these challenges, Secretary Rubio can take the following measures to make the region more secure and prosperous. 

He needs to ensure that any concrete policy proposal from a regional standpoint is rooted in international human rights law and standards, particularly by elevating the standard of living and strengthening government institutions. Failure to do so means that the countries in the region will face increasing instability and lack of respect for the human rights and dignity of their people, which will lead to a rise in people seeking international protection–even as the U.S. further adopts deterrence policies at its borders that fuel violence throughout Mexico and is implementing mass deportations from communities across the U.S. A comprehensive U.S. foreign policy towards Latin America must also prioritize integration as a means of developing solutions and programs that can tackle root causes including physical and economic security and while upholding human rights in a symbiotic manner. 

I. Rights-based approach to law and order 

Recent decisions taken by the Trump administration could make it difficult for Secretary Rubio to have a coherent and effective policy for the region. For example, the recent designation of cartels and other organizations as foreign terrorist organizations could provide a framework that emboldens militarized response to the security and drug trafficking crisis. Already, Amnesty has explained that its use in domestic law enforcement efforts can increase the risk of extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, and other grave human rights violations. Secretary Rubio must take a rights-based approach to law and order. 

II. Fund and strengthen the region, the OAS and other multilateral institutions

Secretary Rubio work stoppage order on programs around the world, consistent with the executive order to reevaluate and realign US foreign aid, may well curb any standing the country has in the hemisphere. This includes the U.S. Refugee Assistance Program, the successful Safe Mobility Offices and other lifesaving programs

His visit to the region should forcefully demonstrate that the State Department is working to ensure the U.S. government restarts funding to the critical programs that support human rights, health, people seeking safety, and other lifesaving efforts

The U.S. should contribute more to regional entities like the OAS as fundamental for human rights in the western hemisphere. The OAS can create spaces where civil society, academia, the private sector and States can truly engage and look for solutions. Secretary Rubio could ensure that the U.S. helps strengthen the OAS as a true regional integration forum, and not only as a political entity. In an ideal scenario, the ratification of the American Convention on Human Rights by the United States could solidify the legitimacy and usefulness of the OAS and of the Inter-American Human Rights System which comprises the Inter-American Commission and Court. 

III. Ensure Security assistance to the region complies with U.S. law and policy and doesn’t fund human rights abusers 

While the fate of humanitarian and development assistance remains in question, Secretary Rubio must ensure that the continued flow of security assistance from the U.S. to the region absolutely complies with U.S. law and policy, conditioning what and to whom this aid is provided, and arms or other resources are not flowing to human rights abusers. The U.S. cannot funnel American tax-dollars to be used in repression or State sponsored harassment. This will only fuel mass displacement, inequality and violence, which in turn breaks societies apart. 

IV. Engage directly with affected communities and survivors

As Secretary Rubio’s time in the Senate advocating for human rights activists and organizations in the region should have shown him, all these proposals cannot be implemented if the U.S. government does not engage directly with affected communities and survivors. If the U.S.’s sphere of influence is only limited to the privileged political or economic elites of the region, who are not impacted directly by the situation of the country but rather benefit from it, long-term solutions will not take hold. Secretary Rubio, with his years of experience engaging with partners in the region, can set a course to rekindle the relationship with the hemisphere, and he must do so from a good neighbor approach, where Latin America is viewed not as a backyard, but as a next-door neighbor who also wants what is best for their region. 

V. Stop the expansionist rhetoric

Secretary Rubio should offset the expansionist discourses promoted within the Trump administration in its first weeks. This very un-neighborly rhetoric promotes antagonism against the U.S. and could prevent further cooperation with it to solve the big problems facing us. It is also un-strategic, as it suggests that the LATAM countries do not have other diplomatic and economic options, and it could pave the way for other countries outside the region to take advantage of and fill the vacuum. This expansionist rhetoric seems paired with an isolationist approach to multilateralism – in a way that puts the U.S. on a backfoot in the region. Particularly in a multipolar world, where right now Brazil is not only chairing BRICS –a multilateral space many see as an alternative to other U.S. dominated multilaterals–is as well hosting a very consequential COP 30 in November of this year—a multilateral forum from which this administration intends to withdraw. 

There is time for Secretary Rubio to change course. 

Secretary Rubio making his first trip to the region very early in his tenure could be a good sign that he understands the need to engage the region. However, he must remember the need for engagement in multilateralism, the U.S. to continue and deepen its investments, including to address socioeconomic concerns, and the importance of principled human rights approaches. Secretary Rubio is fully aware from his time in the Senate better than most, that countries of the Western Hemisphere are partners and are only reliable if they respect human rights. Venezuela and Nicaragua are examples of how a lack of strategic engagement in the long term leaves the people of those countries alone to seek safety or otherwise survive, rather than thrive in rights-respecting territories. The countries in LATAM may need the U.S. to support their institutionality, but the U.S. also needs the region, if they want to be more secure, prosperous and strong for the wellbeing of the people in the entire continent.  We hope that his tenure as the U.S. top diplomate advances this.