Trump's decision to freeze development aid has crippled numerous programs across Latin America, according to experts and NGOs. Millions will be affected, particularly by the dismantling of USAID, which funds health, emergency, and anti-drug programs. The United States has been a major source of funding for Latin America, and its absence could have a devastating impact on the region.
President Donald Trump's decision to freeze development aid has swiftly crippled numerous programs across Latin America that depend on US funding to combat drug trafficking , corruption, hunger, and inequality. Experts and NGOs warn that millions will be disproportionately affected by the dismantling of the US Agency for International Development ( USAID ), a critical agency responsible for countless health and emergency programs.In 2023, USAID disbursed approximately $1.
7 billion in Latin America and the Caribbean, channeled through NGOs, public entities, and vital United Nations programs. Without this lifeline, experts predict a dire scenario: 'There are several programs that will run out of funding. There will be many layoffs, and many communities will be profoundly affected,' asserts Juana Garcia Duque, an international cooperation expert at the University of the Andes in Bogota.Colombia, a nation grappling with the devastating consequences of drug trafficking and violence perpetrated by various armed groups, has been the largest recipient of USAID funding, closely followed by poverty-stricken and gang-violence plagued Haiti. While USAID contributions to Colombia, largely focused on supporting the implementation of a 2016 peace agreement that led to the disarmament of the FARC guerrilla group, represent less than one percent of the country's GDP, according to Garcia, the situation is considerably more precarious for several Central American nations, where these external resources constitute a significant portion of their economies. In Peru, where US aid funds a wide range of programs including food security, drug control, employment, environmental protection, health initiatives, and democracy promotion, NGOs face the daunting prospect of curtailing their projects if support is withdrawn, warns Susana Chavez of the women's rights body Promsex. In Guatemala, the Lambda LGBTQ+ organization has already been compelled to suspend a sexual health education program, along with crucial support, treatment, and testing services for individuals living with HIV. The Colombian Amazon region faces a surge in deforestation, drug trafficking, and illegal mining due to a potential loss of funding, according to Oswaldo Muca Castizo, head of the National Organization of Indigenous Peoples of the Colombian Amazon (OPIAC). He emphasizes that young people who benefit from these aid programs will be left without prospects, potentially driving them into the clutches of criminal organizations involved in clearing protected forests for coca cultivation, the primary ingredient in cocaine.In Bucaramanga, northeast Colombia, the impact of the aid freeze was immediate. The Entre Dos Tierras (Between Two Lands) foundation, which provides assistance to homeless and migrant individuals, many fleeing the turmoil in neighboring Venezuela, has been forced to close its doors. Relying heavily on USAID funding, which constituted nearly 80 percent of its budget, the foundation employed 16 people, all now out of work. The 600 free meals it distributed daily have also ceased. 'Everything is paralyzed,' stated the foundation's director, Alba Pereira, to Agence France-Presse. She lamented that the situation is worsening in a city already grappling with a recent influx of people displaced by guerrilla violence in the nearby Catatumbo region
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