US under Trump driving 'democratic erosion' in Latin America

Abuses committed by the United States in Latin America, including the "extra-judicial execution" of 120 people in Caribbean boat strikes, compounded the suffering of people living under oppressive governments in the region, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday.

President Donald Trump's return to the White House, it said, has seen a rise in impunity in Latin America, emboldening governments known for detaining and otherwise punishing critics and detractors.

"The actions and rhetoric of the Trump administration worsened the human rights situation and contributed to democratic erosion in Latin America," HRW Americas director Juanita Goebertus said.

"Different countries in the region are using both Trump's policies and rhetoric as an excuse to commit abuses," she added.

Goebertus spoke to AFP as the HRW released its annual report, in which it slammed deadly strikes on boats Washington has claimed, without showing evidence, were transporting drugs.

HRW also criticized El Salvador's decision to accept 252 Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States and holding them in a notorious prison where they "suffered systematic torture," according to Goebertus.

Trump's cuts to international aid have also had an outsized impact on Latin America, said the report.

The region has recorded a recent lurch to the right, with more and more leaders adopting Trump-like rhetoric and finding an audience in populations tired of poverty, corruption and violence.

HRW said Latin American governments with tough-on-crime policies have generally seen an increase in human rights violations: pointing in particular to El Salvador's Nayib Bukele and his war on gangs, and Mexico's "militarization" of public security.

While Bukele is wildly popular for turning one of the world's most violent countries into one of the safest, HRW said he did so with "arbitrary and mass detentions," "torture," and "forced disappearances."

"The US government has had an undeniably negative influence" on the region, said Goebertus.

Even countries "that have historically been very committed to the defense of human rights, such as Panama and Costa Rica," have been detaining migrants deported by the United States "without any justification," she added. 

AFP