So, you're saying that the US should continue doing what it has been doing?

Jo-Marie Burt shares many of our concerns about the new president's ties to retired military officials in Ghosts of Past Violence Haunt New President of Guatemala. However, I wanted simply to make a few comments about her advice to the US. To me, her article gives the impression that these are approaches that the US needs to begin taking, not approaches that the US has been taking for several years now.

The United States should support reform efforts to strengthen rule of law in Guatemala and the rest of Central America. Check - too many programs to count. It supports CICIG in Guatemala. The Honduran and Salvadoran governments do not want a similar institution. The US pressured them to pursue such international bodies but in the end seems to be supporting arrangements that the governments' of the region want.   

In particular it should listen to the voice of civil society, especially the youth, who played a critical role in the peaceful protests that led to the resignation and arrest of Pérez Molina last year. Check - but that doesn't mean that the US does what they say. The US supported CICIG, the MP's office, and the protesters but didn't give into the protesters' (youth's?) demand that it call for Perez Molina's resignation. US was correct here. The US supported the institutions and the rights of the protesters to demonstrate that eventually led to the government's downfall and president arrest.

In relation to historic crimes cases, Washington should support efforts to increase the capacity and independence of the Public Prosecutor's Office and the judiciary, especially as recalcitrant sectors mobilize to discredit their work using the outdated language of the Cold War. It was this external influence, as well as malicious litigation practices, that ultimately undid the genocide verdict against former dictator Efrain Rios Montt. Check - there's a reason that the US Ambassador ended up on what looked like a hit-list. The right-wing hates the US Embassy's support for due process and the rule of law when it leads to prosecutions of individuals for civil war era crimes. 

The United States could also help investigators by declassifying all documents pertaining to the Central American civil conflicts. While the US has declassified thousands of documents, there's no question that it could do more.

Washington should also come clean on its own role in perpetuating the murderous regimes that reigned in Central America during the height of the Cold War. The US has apologized for some of its actions in Guatemala and El Salvador and moved against some of its allies who had sought sanctuary in the US, but again, there's no question that it could do more. The US role was complicated. Different agencies and branches worked against each other. What was said publicly was often at odds with what was said privately. The governments and militaries in the region often did what they wanted anyway. More information is better, however. 

Finally, as the United States gears up to implement its new Strategy for Engagement in Central America, it should ensure that funds are used to strengthen mechanisms of transparency and accountability, and improve the lives of ordinary citizens, especially young people. Again, this seems to have been US policy for the last several years. 

In places like Guatemala, lasting peace and prosperity depend on combating poverty as well as impunity. I'm not sure if there's a specific recommendation here. For the US, that would mean helping Central American governments tackle corruption, improve tax systems, invest in education, help the region's economies better adapt to a changing global and regional environments, etc.

 Maybe it's the conservative in me but the US should keep doing what it has been doing.