[House Hearing, 116 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


                    THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION'S 
                            FISCAL YEAR 
                  BUDGET AND U.S. POLICY TOWARD 
                  LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN

=======================================================================

                                HEARING

                               BEFORE THE

                            SUBCOMMITTEE ON
          THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE, CIVILIAN SECURITY, AND TRADE

                                 OF THE

                      COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                     ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS

                             FIRST SESSION

                               __________

                            October 23, 2019

                               __________

                           Serial No. 116-71

                               __________

        Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs
        
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                    U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE                    
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                      COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS

                   ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York, Chairman

BRAD SHERMAN, California             MICHAEL T. McCAUL, Texas, Ranking 
GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York               Member
ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey		     CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey     
GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia         STEVE CHABOT, Ohio
THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida	     JOE WILSON, South Carolina
KAREN BASS, California		     SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania
WILLIAM KEATING, Massachusetts	     TED S. YOHO, Florida
DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island	     ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois
AMI BERA, California		     LEE ZELDIN, New York
JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas		     JIM SENSENBRENNER, Wisconsin
DINA TITUS, Nevada		     ANN WAGNER, Missouri
ADRIANO ESPAILLAT, New York          BRIAN MAST, Florida
TED LIEU, California		     FRANCIS ROONEY, Florida
SUSAN WILD, Pennsylvania	     BRIAN FITZPATRICK, Pennsylvania
DEAN PHILLPS, Minnesota	             JOHN CURTIS, Utah
ILHAN OMAR, Minnesota		     KEN BUCK, Colorado
COLIN ALLRED, Texas		     RON WRIGHT, Texas
ANDY LEVIN, Michigan		     GUY RESCHENTHALER, Pennsylvania
ABIGAIL SPANBERGER, Virginia	     TIM BURCHETT, Tennessee
CHRISSY HOULAHAN, Pennsylvania       GREG PENCE, Indiana
TOM MALINOWSKI, New Jersey	     STEVE WATKINS, Kansas
DAVID TRONE, Maryland		     MIKE GUEST, Mississippi
JIM COSTA, California
JUAN VARGAS, California
VICENTE GONZALEZ, Texas                   

                    Jason Steinbaum, Staff Director
              Brendan Shields,  Republican Staff Director
                                 
                                 ------                                

  Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, Civilian Security, and Trade

                   ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey, Chairman

REGORY W. MEEKS, New York           FRANCIS ROONEY, Florida,
JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas                  Ranking Member
ADRIANO ESPAILLAT, New York	     CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey
DEAN PHILLIPS, Minnesota             TED S. YOHO, Florida
ANDY LEVIN, Michigan	     	     JOHN CURTIS, Utah
VICENTE GONZALEZ, Texas	     	     KEN BUCK, Colorado
JUAN VARGAS, California	     	     MIKE GUEST, Mississippi
                       
                       Sadaf Khan, Staff Director
                        
                           
                            C O N T E N T S

                              ----------                              
                                                                   Page

                               WITNESSES

Kozak, The Honorable Michael G., Acting Assistant Secretary, 
  Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, U.S. Department of State.     7
Barsa, The Honorable John, Assistant Administrator, Bureau for 
  Latin America and the Caribbean, U.S. Agency for International 
  Development....................................................    12
Glenn, Mr. Rich, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of 
  International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, U.S. 
  Department of State............................................    21

                                APPENDIX

Hearing Notice...................................................    42
Hearing Minutes..................................................    43
Hearing Attendance...............................................    44

       STATEMENTS SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD FROM COMMITTEE MEMBERS

Statement submitted for the record from Chairman Sires...........    45

            RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD

Responses to questions submitted for the record from 
  Representative Sires...........................................    48

 
 THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION'S FISCAL YEAR BUDGET AND U.S. POLICY TOWARD 
                    LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN

                      Wednesday, October 23, 2019

                        House of Representatives

                Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere,

                      Civilian Security and Trade

                      Committee on Foreign Affairs

                                     Washington, DC

    The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 2 p.m., in room 
2172 Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Albio Sires (chairman 
of the subcommittee) presiding.
    Mr. Sires. This hearing will come to order. This hearing 
titled The Trump Administration's Fiscal Year 2020 Budget and 
U.S. Policy toward Latin America and the Caribbean will focus 
on the Trump Administration's budget request and its policy 
priorities for the Western Hemisphere. Without objection, all 
members may have 5 days to submit statements, questions, 
strenuous, but serious, for the record, subject to the length 
limitation in the rules.
    I will now make an opening statement and then turn it over 
to the ranking member for his opening statement.
    Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you to our witnesses 
for being here today.
    I have wanted to hold this hearing since the beginning of 
this Congress. Unfortunately, the former Assistant Secretary 
for Western Hemisphere Affairs refused to testify before this 
subcommittee, despite numerous invitations and requests. All 
recent Senate-confirmed Assistant Secretaries of State for 
Western Hemisphere Affairs testified multiple times before the 
House Foreign Affairs Committee during their tenures. It was a 
disservice to Congress, to the constituents we are elected to 
represent, and to those diplomats who served under Assistant 
Secretary Kim Breier, that she chose to stonewall Congress. It 
should go without saying that testifying before Congress is not 
optional.
    I am appreciative that Ambassador Kozak immediately 
recognized the importance of this hearing and I am encouraged 
that we have an Acting Assistant Secretary with such 
distinguished record of public service.
    The challenges facing United States leadership in the 
Western Hemisphere are immense. In Venezuela, the Maduro 
dictatorship has managed to cling to power, even in the face of 
a severe humanitarian crisis that the Maduro regime created. I 
commend the Colombian people and the Colombian Government for 
their admirable response to the Venezuela crisis. I am proud of 
our diplomats and staff on the ground, who have worked 
tirelessly to promote a democratic transition and provide 
humanitarian support and development assistance to the 
Venezuelan people. That said, I am concerned about the impacts 
of this crisis, the longer it drags on, and I will be asking 
our witnesses today to provide a clear strategy for our 
Venezuela policy going forward.
    In the Northern Triangle, forced gang recruitment, 
extortion, domestic violence, poverty, and the impacts of 
climate change are among many factors forcing people to migrate 
north. Unfortunately, under this Administration, U.S. policy 
toward the Northern Triangle ignores that complex reality. In 
March, the Trump Administration announced draconian cuts of 
over $400 million in U.S. assistance to Guatemala, Honduras, 
and El Salvador. Administration officials reached this decision 
without consulting Congress or even assessing the impact of our 
assistance programs on migration flows to the United States. 
Since imposing those cuts, administration officials have 
coerced Northern Triangle governments into signing safe third 
country agreements, which aim to deny people who are fleeing 
violence the right to seek asylum in the United States. The 
Trump Administration seems to believe that we can stop 
migration by criminalizing desperation.
    I strongly disagree with the approach. I believe that the 
U.S. must instead work as a partner to create conditions so 
that Hondurans, Guatemalans, and Salvadorans can see a future 
in their home countries. We must also reclaim our commitment to 
combating government corruption in Guatemala, an effort that 
the Bush Administration and bipartisan Members of Congress long 
championed, but which this Administration has backed away from. 
I am convinced that China's increased presence in the region 
poses a threat to U.S. interests. However, cutting our foreign 
assistance to the region by nearly 30 percent, as this 
Administration proposed in its budget request, will only worsen 
the problem. We will not overcome the challenges posed by China 
by cutting foreign assistance and strong-arming our allies. 
True alliances, based on mutual respect, are America's 
comparative advantage over China. We need to deepen our 
engagement with the region in order to regain our competitive 
edge.
    Moreover, if we are going to play a leadership role in 
addressing the many crises facing the region, we must be seen 
as an honest broker. We must call on Bolivian authorities to 
ensure the election results reflect the will of the people. We 
must stand in solidarity with the Haitian people, who are 
suffering under crippling poverty and are asking only that 
their political leaders finally start doing what they were 
elected to do. And we must continue to support brave activists 
in Cuba and Nicaragua who are demanding basic human rights, 
even in the face of severe repression.
    I look forward to a productive discussion on these and many 
other challenges in the Western Hemisphere. I hope we can all 
agree on a path forward for the United States to deepen 
engagement with our allies and advance our shared interests in 
the Western Hemisphere.
    Thank you and I will now turn to Ranking Member Rooney for 
his opening statement.
    Mr. Rooney. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Chairman Sires. I want 
to thank you for holding this long overdue budget hearing. And 
as you commented, I want to thank Secretary Kozak, 
Administrator Barsa, and Secretary Glenn for underscoring the 
importance of this hearing and for being here today.
    Oversight of the Administration's foreign aid budget for 
the Western Hemisphere is among this subcommittee's most 
important responsibilities. In light of concerning attempts to 
cut aid to the region, I am glad to finally have this 
opportunity.
    Today, we will review the Trump Administration's $1.2 
billion 2020 request and discuss the Administration's 
priorities for the region. The prosperity and stability of the 
region is vital to the United States' national security 
interests, and in many ways, this Administration has 
demonstrated that it understands this. Inconsistent and 
episodic United States' attention to the region is a chronic 
problem and perhaps more than previous administrations, the 
Trump Administration has paid significant attention to Latin 
America. For example, since 2017, the President has made one 
visit to Argentina, Vice President Pence has made five visits 
to the region, and Secretary Pompeo has made six.
    The Administration has also shown its unquestioned 
commitment to democracy in the region by clearly condemning the 
dictatorships in Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua and standing 
for human rights.
    I commend the Trump Administration for applying sanctions 
to corrupt actors and human rights violators in these countries 
and for their commitment to supporting the brave people who 
risk their lives for freedom every day in Latin America.
    I also commend the administration for making the United 
States the first country to recognize Venezuelans' interim 
President Guaido, and for continuing to lead the world in 
supporting the legitimate national assembly and peaceful 
democratic transition in Venezuela. Despite initial concerns 
over the Administration's opposition to NAFTA, the new USMCA 
actually seems to improve our strong relationship with Mexico. 
We also continue to maintain our critical relationship with 
Colombia and Argentina and are taking advantage of 
opportunities to strengthen our ties with Brazil, Ecuador, 
Panama, Peru, and Chile.
    However, security and economic challenges continue to 
plague the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, Honduras, 
and El Salvador, churning an unprecedented wave of irregular 
migration to our southern border. We also continue to face 
threat from transnational crime and even Hezbollah in South 
America.
    Recent social unrest in Ecuador and Chile and the blatant 
irregularities seen in Sunday's Presidential elections in 
Bolivia, demonstrate the fragile state of the region's 
democratic institutions.
    We must also address the threat in which climate change 
poses to rural and indigenous populations throughout the region 
and we have seen greatest incidents of this recently in 
Guatemala and how this also contributes to migration, not only 
to our border, but throughout the hemisphere.
    China's growing influence in the region threatens our 
national security and continues to be a concern, threatening to 
erode democratic values, perpetuate systemic corruption, and 
undermine the rule of law. Colombia's granting of the country's 
largest infrastructure project in their history to a Chinese 
consortium, part of which has been barred by the World Bank, is 
the most recent and very concerning example of maligned Chinese 
influence throughout the region.
    I want to commend the State Department for successfully 
stopping an equally bad investment of China in El Salvador. To 
be clear, we do not want to dictate who sovereign nations deal 
with, but we do want to guarantee a level playing field.
    The U.S. must continue to strongly engage in Latin America 
and the Caribbean and facilitate conditions where United 
States' private investments can thrive. Energy security and 
disaster resilience in the Caribbean are other opportunities 
for American investments.
    I am deeply concerned about continued cuts in U.S. 
financial support to Latin America and the Caribbean and 
especially about the cutting of aid to the Northern Triangle. 
Our foreign assistance is a critical tool to advance our 
national interests and address the aforementioned challenges.
    I want to thank our witnesses again for being here today. I 
look forward to their testimoneys and look forward also to 
hearing their thoughts on the budget and how we can maintain 
our strategic influence in Latin America and the Caribbean.
    Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
    Mr. Sires. Thank you very much, Ranking Member Rooney. I 
will now introduce the Honorable Michael G. Kozak, Acting 
Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs. Previously 
Ambassador Kozak held two Acting Assistant Secretary roles in 
the Bureau of Inter-American Affairs and the Bureau for 
Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. Prior to this appointment, 
he held the role of Senior Director of the National Security 
Council staff and served as the United States Ambassador to 
Belarus and the Chief of Mission in Cuba.
    Ambassador Kozak, welcome.
    We will then hear from the Honorable John Barsa, Assistant 
Administrator for the Bureau of Latin America and the Caribbean 
at the United States Agency for International Development. 
Prior to his appointment, Mr. Barsa served as the Principal 
Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Department of Homeland 
Security's Office of Partnership and Engagement. He also served 
in the United States Army Reserves with the 11th Special Forces 
Group and later the Civil Affairs Battalion.
    Mr. Barsa, thank you for your service and for being here 
today.
    Finally, we will hear from Mr. Richard Glenn, Deputy 
Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of International 
Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. In his current role, Mr. 
Glenn oversees the Office of Anti-Crime Program and Western 
Hemisphere Programs. He began his work with the INL in 2011 as 
Deputy Director of the Merida Initiative in Mexico City and has 
also served in Ecuador and Argentina.
    Mr. Glenn, thank you for being here.
    I ask the witnesses to please limit your testimony to 5 
minutes and without objection your prepared written statements 
will be made part of the record.
    Assistant Secretary Kozak, I will turn to you for your 
testimony.

 STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE MICHAEL G. KOZAK, ACTING ASSISTANT 
     SECRETARY, BUREAU OF WESTERN HEMISPHERE AFFAIRS, U.S. 
                      DEPARTMENT OF STATE

    Hon. Kozak. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member 
Rooney and members of the subcommittee. Thank you for the 
opportunity to testify on the Fiscal Year 2020 foreign 
assistance request for the Western Hemisphere.
    This is a time of great challenge and opportunity in the 
region. If we are successful in our efforts to promote 
democracy in Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua, and we intend to 
be, we will need to provide assistance that is qualitatively 
and quantitatively different than what we are providing at 
present to combat the repressive regimes that hold those 
countries hostage.
    We expect our partners in Central America to show political 
will to break with the past to curb unsafe and illegal 
immigration and corruption, and to allow all of their citizens 
to pursue prosperity for themselves and their families. If they 
do so, they will find us ready to provide significant 
assistance. But for those who seek to maintain the status quo, 
we will not let them use our assistance as a facade for their 
lack of political will to make real reform. Given these 
challenges and opportunities, Mr. Chairman, we have proposed 
assistance programs with the recognition that they may need to 
be significantly reshaped in coordination with you and the 
subcommittee as events unfold in the region.
    Our $1.19 billion request prioritizes programs that address 
trafficking and drugs and smuggling of people by transnational 
criminal organizations and we seek to create an environment for 
increased U.S. trade and investment, security, and prosperity 
in the region to benefit our interests. Our assistance 
strengthens border security and combats corruption. These 
programs work if the partner governments are truly committed, 
so we expect our partners to stand up against corruption and 
against those who seek to preserve the economic and governance 
status quo.
    The request for the Western Hemisphere includes eight 
primary components. For Venezuela, we are requesting $9 million 
to support democratic actors, but we also are asking for $500 
million transfer authority that would provide flexibility to 
expand U.S. support for a democratic transition and to meet 
Maduro-imposed regional migration challenges. We will continue 
to direct U.S. foreign assistance resources to support 
Venezuelan democracy as represented by the democratically 
elected National Assembly and interim President Guaido.
    We are requesting $78.9 million for Mexico. Of this $76.25 
is for the Merida Initiative to combat illicit poppy 
cultivation, heroin production, and fentanyl trafficking. It 
also supports Mexican efforts to reduce violence, and promote 
greater respect for human rights.
    $445 million is proposed for El Salvador, Guatemala, and 
Honduras. We expect the governments of these three countries to 
take action to reduce illegal immigration to the United States 
in time to be factored into the 2020 appropriations process. 
Last week, the President supported some targeted foreign 
assistance aimed at advancing our joint efforts to deter 
illegal immigration from those countries. But our programs 
cannot be a substitute for political will. The governments of 
El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras must demonstrate that they 
are willing to stand up to those who profit from the status quo 
which generates large numbers of illegal immigrants arriving at 
the U.S. southern border.
    For Colombia, we are requesting $344.4 million for 
counternarcotics efforts and peace implementation. Colombia has 
shown the political will necessary to confront the severe 
challenge of coca production. Colombia continues to absorb the 
largest influx of Venezuelans fleeing the crisis in their 
country. And we will continue to support Colombia as it 
responds to these migration flows.
    In Haiti, the $145.5 million request serves to promote good 
governance and advance economic growth. It will continue to 
build the capacity of the Haitian National Police, and to 
support assistance to reduce the prevalence of HIV/AIDS. We 
urge the elected representatives of the Haitian people to take 
steps necessary to stabilize democratic governance.
    For Peru, the $55.1 million request will support efforts to 
combat the illicit drug trade and transnational criminal 
organizations through tightly paired eradication and 
alternative development programs. Peruvian-based security 
initiative remains critical to combat crime and violence. The 
$40.2 million will strengthen law enforcement capacity and 
improve justice institutions.
    Finally, the request includes $6 million to support 
democracy, human rights, and civil society in Cuba; $1 million 
for democracy programming for Ecuador, and another $6 million 
for democracy in Nicaragua.
    Again, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, if our 
policies are successful in promoting change, we will welcome 
the opportunity to consult with you to take advantage of such 
positive developments. I look forward to your questions. Thank 
you, sir.
    [The prepared statement of Hon. Kozak follows:]

    [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
    
    Mr. Sires. Thank you, Mr. Secretary.
    Assistant Administrator Barsa, you are recognized.

STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE JOHN BARSA, ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR, 
  BUREAU FOR LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN, U.S. AGENCY FOR 
                   INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

    Hon. Barsa. Chairman Sires, Ranking Member Rooney, and 
Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the invitation to 
testify today. I am grateful for the Committee's bipartisan 
support for USAID's work in Latin America and the Caribbean.
    USAID is requesting $547 million in Fiscal Year 2020 
resources for programs that advance the U.S. national security 
and economic prosperity, demonstrate American generosity, and 
promote a path to recipient self-reliance and resilience.
    Our most pressing priority is Venezuela. Nicolas Maduro's 
inept political and economic policies, corruption, and the use 
of fear and violence have caused a humanitarian and political 
crisis that overflows the borders of Venezuela. The United 
States stands in solidarity with Venezuelans and the government 
of Interim President Guaido. We have provided nearly $644 
million in humanitarian and development assistance to support 
programs inside Venezuela and throughout the region.
    With Fiscal Year 2020 resources, USAID will continue 
programs that support human rights, civil society, independent 
media, electoral oversight, and the democratically elected 
National Assembly.
    We are also supporting democratic actors in Nicaragua and 
Cuba. With bipartisan support from Congress, we remain 
committed to helping Nicaragua and NGO's and political 
activists as they seek change in peaceful, democratic ways.
    USAID programs in Cuba support human rights, the free flow 
of information, civil society, and humanitarian assistance to 
political prisons and their families.
    In other countries, we seek to buildupon progress we have 
made in recent years. USAID helps to advance programs in 
Colombia that further a just and sustainable peace, economic 
development, citizen security, and a culture of legality in 
former conflict zones.
    In Mexico, our programs work to prevent crime, improve 
access to justice, and strengthen civil society.
    In Brazil, USAID works to conserve biodiversity while 
advancing prosperity through responsible economic development.
    Our assistance in Peru helps reduce the production and 
trafficking of illicit drugs by supporting economically viable 
alternatives to growing coca.
    We welcome the recent decision to partially move forward 
with certain targeted U.S. foreign assistance activities in El 
Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.
    The success of our work depends on the leadership and 
political will of our host country partners. Using data shared 
with us by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, we are better 
targeting current and potential programs. We are also 
specifically adding migration metrics to assess the impact of 
our work.
    As Assistant Administrator, I am committed to working with 
our partners in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras to address 
the root causes of illegal immigration to the United States.
    The U.S. Government places a high priority on our work 
under the U.S. Strategy for Engagement in the Caribbean. Just 
last week, we announced $5 million to reduce electricity 
prices, increase service quality, and make electricity systems 
in the Caribbean more resilient.
    And today, we have announced a $2 million partnership with 
the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology to help 
countries address the risks and improve disaster response.
    USAID was proud to stand with the Bahamian Government with 
humanitarian assistance in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane 
Dorian. I recently traveled to the Bahamas with Administrator 
Green when he announced an additional $7.5 million to help with 
relief and recovery which brought USAID's total humanitarian 
assistance to nearly $34 million. We remain in close contact 
with the Bahamian Government about their plans and needs 
regarding long-term recovery.
    In Haiti, where political instability and violence reminds 
us that progress continues to be fragile, USAID resources 
address poverty, food security, healthcare services, and 
advance accountable governmental institutions.
    I am particularly excited about the recent developments in 
our relationship with Ecuador. Thanks to President Moreno's re-
engagement with the United States, Administrative Green signed 
a Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of Ecuador in 
May 2019 and we plan to reopen an office in the next year.
    We also are continuing to monitor the extensive development 
needs and political situation in Bolivia. After expelling USAID 
in 2013, Morales has given no indication that he is willing to 
work with the United States. However, he recently requested 
assistance from USAID to fight the Amazon fires.
    In conclusion, this is just a short overview of our 
programs and plans for Fiscal Year 2020 resources. We will 
continue to work on the prosperity, security, and good 
governance programs, and encourage people to build better 
societies for their families and home communities.
    I thank the subcommittee for its interest in support of our 
work. I look forward to your questions.
    [The prepared statement of Hon. Barsa follows:]

    [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
    
    Mr. Sires. Thank you.
    Mr. Glenn, you are recognized.

  STATEMENT OF RICHARD H. GLENN, DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY, 
BUREAU OF INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS AND LAW ENFORCEMENT AFFAIRS, 
                    U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

    Mr. Glenn. Chairman Sires, Ranking Member Rooney, members 
of the subcommittee, it is a pleasure to be here today to 
testify on the President's Fiscal Year 2020 budget request and 
the policy priorities for the Western Hemisphere.
    The efforts of the Department of State's Bureau of 
International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, better 
known as INL, are vital to our national security interests. INL 
builds the capacity of foreign partners to disrupt 
transnational crime and other security threats before they 
reach our borders. Our request of $484 million will enable INL 
to address the most pressing security issues directly affecting 
the United States. We will prioritize combating drug-
trafficking organizations and transnational gangs. We will 
address the deadly opioid epidemic in the United States. And we 
will work with Mexico and Central America to address the 
migration crisis at our southern border.
    The $209 million request for Colombia represents the 
largest portion of our request. Colombia remains the world's 
largest producer of cocaine and is the source of over 90 
percent of the cocaine seized in the United States. The 
majority of funding will support our joint commitment with the 
Colombian Government to cut coca cultivation and cocaine 
production levels in half by the end of 2023. We are on target 
to reach that goal.
    Last year, illicit coca cultivation decreased for the first 
time since 2012. Coca eradication is the cornerstone of this 
support. With our support, President Duque has quadrupled the 
number of manual eradicators and achieved the highest level of 
manual eradication in the last 7 years. We will support the 
restart of a safe and effective Colombian led aerial 
eradication program. However, eradication is only part of the 
solution. These efforts must be joined by expanded police 
presence, crop substitution, and alternative development 
activities to sustainably reduce cocaine production. INL, along 
with USAID and the Government of Colombia, have agreed to a 
focused implementation of these types of programs in key areas 
to sustain counternarcotics gains. These efforts combined with 
our support for interdiction, anti-money laundering, asset 
forfeiture, and justice sector reform will deliver the results 
that we all seek.
    Closer to home, Mexico is the origin of most heroin and 
methamphetamine consumed here and remains the major transit 
zone for cocaine destined for the United States. We are alarmed 
at the emergence of fentanyl production in Mexico. Our work 
with Mexico seeks to intensify counternarcotics cooperation 
through strengthening border security, increasing the 
operational capacity of law enforcement units, and ensuring the 
Mexican criminal justice system serves its citizenry and ends 
impunity.
    Our programs build the capacity of Mexican criminal justice 
actors to attack each component of the organized crime business 
model to reduce drug production, control cross-border 
trafficking, remove illicit profits, and restore government 
control over all its territory. As the President has noted, 
Mexico needs to do more to root out organized crime. Two weeks 
ago INL Assistant Secretary Madison traveled to Mexico to urge 
them to develop and share a comprehensive counternarcotics 
strategy, an especially urgent task given the events of last 
week in Mexico.
    In Central America, INL increases our partners' ability to 
stop drug trafficking, combats organized crime, and addresses 
security-related drivers of migration. INL will expand our 
maritime interdiction efforts with an eye toward enhanced 
bilateral and multilateral information sharing and operations.
    In El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, we will continue 
to address the security-related drivers of migration. 
Transnational gangs, like MS-13, perpetuate violence, 
insecurity, and commit acts of extortion in Central America and 
in the United States. We will support vetted units and 
specialized task forces to investigate and prosecute cases and 
to serve as reliable trusted partners of U.S. law enforcement. 
Our efforts focus on multi-national approaches to collect, 
analyze, and disseminate intelligence, to identify criminals, 
and transnational crime trends in the region. We remain 
committed to strengthening justice sector institutions and 
confronting the foundational threats posed by endemic 
corruption.
    The challenges we face are serious, but we are seeing 
results, especially when partner countries have the political 
will to put our assistance to proper use. Obviously, more work 
remains to sustain these gains. Our Fiscal Year 2020 Year 
request is critical to those efforts. Thank you and I look 
forward to your questions.
    [The prepared statement of Mr. Glenn follows:]

    [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
    
    Mr. Sires. Thank you. Secretary Kozak, I am going to start 
with something that is close to home. You know, in May, I sent 
a letter with eight of my colleagues from New Jersey to 
Secretary Pompeo asking the State Department to help me solve 
an issue of land bonds owed by the Peruvian Government to 
pensioners in my State. It is about $57 million.
    Is there any way that we can approach Peru to see if they 
can pay what they owe 72,000 pensioners in my State that are 
concerned about the money that Peru is not paying? So I would 
ask you if you could in your travels when you speak to the 
Peruvian Government, tell them that we are well aware that they 
have not paid their bills.
    And as someone who in 2009 voted for the Peruvian free 
trade agreement, I kind of feel that it was a slap in the face 
what they are doing to the State of New Jersey. So do you have 
any idea if they intend to pay this?
    Hon. Kozak. Yes, Mr. Chairman, and indeed your letter to 
the Secretary has had effect. The Secretary himself has raised 
it with the senior levels of the Peruvian Government. I 
already, in my interactions with them, have raised the same 
issue. And it is interesting you mentioned the 2009 agreement. 
What has happened is that that agreement had a provision in it 
that allowed American claimants to bring arbitration cases with 
Peru and at least the holders of the bulk of those bonds have 
brought such an arbitration case is my understanding. I believe 
it is to be heard at the beginning of next year. In the 
conversations we have had with the Peruvians, they are saying 
they will, of course, abide by the result of that arbitration. 
So, I think it is in a process now that hopefully will lead to 
a result in the not too distant future. It is very much on our 
minds and we appreciate you having brought it to our attention.
    Mr. Sires. You know this is theirs. A way to invest and 
they asked the people in different countries do certain things 
and then we do not get paid. I think Argentina had some issues 
with that also. So I would just--it is very hard to get the 
people to invest and then not get paid. That is just--I do not 
understand that.
    I want to talk a little bit about something that is very 
bothersome to me. I remember the Merida Initiative. I guess 
this will go to you, Mr. Glenn. We have invested close to $2 
billion in Mexico under the Merida Initiative. And the homicide 
rate in August was the highest on record. Is it worth it to 
continue to invest money in Mexico? I mean, the other day I saw 
that the Sinaloa cartel took over a town of a million people 
and Mexico basically walked away. That is very disturbing to me 
as someone who supported the Merida Initiative right from the 
beginning.
    Where are we with this Merida Initiative?
    Mr. Glenn. First, if I may, I want to recognize and thank 
the many members of the Mexican law enforcement and military 
who wear the uniform and who are patriots to their nation and 
who are dedicated to the fight against transnational organized 
crime. They are there. Many of them are personal friends of 
mine and are respected colleagues and associates. They are 
passionate about the work that they do. They believe in 
upholding the rule of law.
    And one of the things that we have been able to do through 
the Merida Initiative is to equip and build their capacity to 
be able to confront organized crime. We know that they are 
capable. We know because we helped build that capacity.
    As I mentioned in my testimony, I think what is of greatest 
importance at this moment is that Mexico develop and share with 
us a comprehensive strategy to confront transnational organized 
crime. Without that strategy and without us knowing what that 
strategy is and being able to match our funding and our 
abilities with their strategic direction we won't see progress. 
But obviously, the events of last week were very concerning to 
us.
    Mr. Sires. But it has been 10 years that we have been 
giving money to this initiative and we still do not have a plan 
to deal with international organized crime. Is that what you 
are telling me?
    Mr. Glenn. I think what we need to see is a greater 
political commitment from the highest levels of government in 
Mexico.
    Mr. Sires. Thank you. Ranking Member Rooney.
    Mr. Rooney. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I might start by 
asking Administrator Barsa about what programs we have in place 
to deal with climate change in Latin America. I think you 
mentioned that during your testimony and I know that AID is 
doing some things that I have heard about.
    Hon. Barsa. We do. Well, certainly we do not have--
regarding climate change, we are certainly not in the position 
to adjudicate causality or anything like that, but we certainly 
do have programs to deal with the effects of weather in any 
number of sectors. Certainly, our work in the Amazon in Brazil, 
we are looking at how the weather effects working with 
indigenous groups on preservation of the rain forest.
    We had some announcements we made today about $2 million 
for increased ability to monitor hurricanes and weather events. 
We announced a few days ago $5 million to invest in the 
Caribbean Renewable Energy Forum which is also going to 
increase energy resiliency within the Caribbean.
    We are also looking at programs certainly in the Western 
Highlands of Guatemala and other places. We are certainly 
cognizant of the effect of weather changes, so we are looking 
for food security, where applicable, that cuts across the 
region any number of activities.
    Mr. Rooney. Secretary Kozak, do you have any comments? We 
were talking about this the other day, there were articles 
about Guatemala with the impact on the coffee production.
    Hon. Kozak. Yes, sir. There has been a drought in the 
region and some severe consequence for a lot of the growers 
there. And AID has been working programs.
    I think what I would add is that in addition to trying to 
deal with the immediate effects of climate and so on, what we 
are looking for is some real reform in these countries so that 
people are not in a position where a bad turn in the weather 
with a hurricane coming through or a year's worth of drought or 
something is going to destroy them or destroy their lives. We 
need to see these economies become much more robust and growing 
and have more diversity in the types of activity.
    So there is both the immediate problem of how you deal with 
these effects of weather disasters, but then the broader 
problem, how do you end up with economies that are not heavily 
dependent on subsistence farming and that kind of thing.
    Mr. Rooney. Thank you. The other question I might ask and 
start with you, Secretary Kozak, is now that we have got this 
new thing in Bolivia, what do you think we can do there?
    Hon. Kozak. Yes, sir. Well, one thing we did do was fully 
support the election observation mission that the Organization 
of American States put in place, as well as some affiliated 
election observers. The Bolivians have had the opportunity to 
have a good, clean election. It was in the process of moving 
forward and then inexplicably they stopped counting the votes 
and then announced inconsistent results.
    Our urging to them, and we are making it both publicly and 
privately, is that they respect the votes that were cast by the 
Bolivian people. It is not that hard to determine how they cast 
their votes. They have actas that show the count. And they 
should do that and abide by the result. If they do not, we are 
making clear that there are going to be some serious 
consequences in their relationships throughout the region. 
Prior to this, they have been considered a democratically 
elected government even though they sometimes have had policies 
and attitudes toward us that were not all that productive, like 
throwing out USAID a few years back. But we treated them as a 
legitimately elected government.
    Mr. Rooney. The Post ran that article last week about how 
it may be socialistic, but it seems to be working for the 
people.
    Hon. Kozak. Well, at this point, I think it is not working 
for the people if you do not let the people make a choice.
    Mr. Rooney. Right.
    Hon. Kozak. Right now, my colleague, Ambassador Carlos 
Trujillo, is at the OAS. They are having a permanent council 
meeting on this and I think you will see a pretty strong 
response from the whole hemisphere. It is not just a U.S.-
Bolivia thing. It is democracy in the region versus an effort 
to interfere with it.
    Mr. Rooney. How many votes do you think you will get?
    Hon. Kozak. I am not going to speculate, sir. My guess 
though is it is going to be pretty strong in terms of the 
democracies in the region. I mean this is the kind of thing 
that the Inter-American Democratic Charter and so on was 
designed to deal with. You cannot have elections and then just 
ignore the results.
    Mr. Rooney. Thank you.
    Mr. Sires. Congressman Gonzalez.
    Mr. Gonzalez. Thank you. And I want to thank the panel for 
being here with us today.
    Last spring, the Mexican Government announced--I am going 
to change the subject a little bit to Mexico and some followup 
to what the chairman was talking about. Last spring, the 
Mexican Government announced the Safe Highway Pilot Program. I 
am not sure, maybe Mr. Glenn might be familiar with this, but I 
was particularly excited. I flew down to Mexico City. I met 
with Secretary Durazo because I have a huge concern of the 
trade route from Monterrey to the border to my district in 
Texas where a lot of trade and tourism crosses. And it has 
become highly dangerous. In fact, I have not crossed into 
Reynosa in 11 years and sometimes they say it is safer than 
others, but at the end of the day it still is not completely 
safe and it is not where it used to be.
    They agreed to honor my request and they put Highway 40 
into this pilot program of safe highways. However, to this day, 
I have not seen time bars. It really has not become a reality. 
I have seen nothing come to fruition and unfortunately, this is 
very impactful to trade and I am surprised when we are talking 
taxes and tariffs in our trade agreement that we are not 
talking about security costs and extortion costs that many 
people in the business community including Americans doing 
business in Mexico are forced to pay. And it does not seem like 
it has been addressed forcefully enough.
    Are you aware of the risk drivers of both cargo and tourist 
passengers face driving down Highway 40 or other highways I am 
sure in Mexico? They told me this was the 17th most dangerous, 
but to me, it is the most important, that they are dealing 
with. Are you familiar with this program or any other programs 
intended to address the insecurity on Mexico's highways and 
trade routes like Highway 40? And what steps is the U.S. 
Government taking to address these concerns?
    I very rarely hear about here on the Hill or anywhere else 
and I thought that not addressing this while we are talking 
about trade and USMCA would be a missed opportunity. I have 
grown up in South Texas. I remember the day when we would cross 
the border and it was just another extension of our community. 
Nice to drive to Monterrey and spend the weekend and come back. 
As a lawyer, I did a lot of business in Mexico. And all that 
changed about 12 years ago and has progressively gotten worse. 
I will have government officials come and tell me that things 
have improved and it is safer now, but it is really not.
    What are we doing and what more can we do to address this? 
And do you think right now while we are talking about USMCA, do 
you think that this would be the appropriate time to address 
this and maybe apply some pressure to get something done?
    It is appalling that we have spent $2 billion which I know 
is the right investment if you get the right results, but I do 
not see the results and this is my second term in Congress and 
it is pretty frustrating to see what is happening in Mexico. 
And I know trade has been successful, but there are a lot of 
issues happening on the border. I hear of exporters that have 
an extra line item on the Mexican custom brokers that are to 
pay the bad guys, if you will, and many, many stories as I am 
sure you guys have probably heard about.
    What do you have to say about this? What can we do? I am 
really disenchanted with what is happening and I am very 
concerned. It has impacted the local economy in South Texas. We 
had a lot of tourism. We had a billion dollars a year of 
legitimate Mexican business deposits in banks in South Texas. 
They have been impacted. The tourist industry has been 
impacted. Our sales taxes are down all because of insecurity.
    When I talk to my friends in Monterrey, Mexico and they say 
hey, I am going to be in town for the weekend, why do not you 
come up? I am like, you know, I do not go anymore because I 
feel like I am risking my life and my family's life. These are 
the good people in Mexico that are not allowed to come because 
of the insecurity. And I think we could do a lot more. I think 
we have really failed and here, a $2 billion figure that has 
been expended and you still cannot drive to Monterrey. Clearly, 
something is broken and what can we do to make it better? And 
what information would you have that maybe I do not have? Thank 
you.
    Mr. Glenn. Thank you, Congressman. I would be happy to 
address the security aspect of that. The Mexican Government is 
currently undergoing a transition from what was the Federal 
Police that had responsibility for the highways and highway 
safety. Basically, they are highway patrol. With the creation 
of their National Guard, the Federal Police is being disbanded 
and absorbed into that National Guard entity.
    My view from at least Washington is that that transition, 
transitions that are that big normally is rough and they are 
going through some difficulties in transitioning to that new 
National Guard structure. And it will be some time before they 
are fully on their feet.
    At the moment, as far as I know, the Mexicans have not 
asked formally for assistance in the formation of that National 
Guard. Of course, we stand ready to provide assistance that is 
tied to U.S. national security goals if they so sought.
    Again, I would go back to the criticality of the Mexican 
Government at the highest levels developing a national security 
strategy and one that is specific to counternarcotics and 
organized crime. Without that, it is difficult to organize a 
reaction.
    Mr. Gonzalez. This transition is the last year. How about 9 
years prior to this while we were dishing out $2 billion and 
really I think we should have more accountability and wanting 
to see a result of that investment, especially places that 
Americans visit and do business in. I am really upset.
    I just sent a letter to the Mexican ambassadors and I am 
for this trade agreement. I am for trade. It has transformed 
our region and it has been good for all three countries 
involved, but I am about to pull my vote if they do not do 
something about this and I think we need to do more and I think 
while we are talking about trade, it would be a missed 
opportunity to not talk about the insecurity when we are 
talking about taxes and tariffs and we are paying extortion 
fees and extra security costs, how is that not a tax or a 
tariff?
    Mr. Sires. Thank you, Congressman. Congressman Buck. Sorry, 
Mr. Curtis, you do not look like Buck.
    Mr. Curtis. That is the nicest thing you have said all day.
    Mr. Sires. I apologize.
    Mr. Curtis. No worries. Thank you very much. Thank you to 
each of the three of you for being here. I would like to use my 
comments to emphasize three points that have been bouncing 
around in my head in relationship to travel that I have had in 
this region. And the first is more of a comment than it is a 
question. And that is my strong belief that your success in 
this region is incredibly important and vital to the United 
States, that every bit of success you have adds to the peace 
and prosperity that we have here in the United States, that our 
investment in time and energy and the men and women that work 
not just for you but in that region for the United States are 
doing very important work. So I just would like to emphasize 
that and thank you all and the many people that you represent.
    The second is the concern about China, their influence in 
the region. It seems to be widespread. China has engaged in an 
aggressive campaign to convince countries to switch their 
allegiance from Taiwan to China. I actually have a bill that 
addresses this. It is called the TAIPEI Act and I hope this 
committee will pick this bill up and quickly address it.
    I worry that our effort, our U.S. dollars spent in that 
region are a small percent compared to the influence of China 
and their maligning influence. And I am wondering if you can 
address that and give us some hope that we can counter these 
efforts or that we need to do more.
    Hon. Kozak. Thank you, Mr. Curtis, first for the nice words 
about our people. All three of our activities are working in 
the region and they are out there every day on the front lines 
for exactly the reasons you indicate_trying to improve things 
because it does contribute directly to our security and 
prosperity.
    Second, on China, we have put a substantial effort into 
this, and my principal deputy has been in our bureau the main 
spark plug behind this thing. And I think we are making some 
progress. What we are trying to get across to people in the 
region is to say ``look, yes, you should trade with China. We 
trade with China. It is a big country. It is a big market. But 
trade on your terms. Trade on terms that are fair and 
reciprocal and transparent.''
    China is following, to me, what appears like a 19th century 
imperialist model in merchantilism and government agencies and 
so on. And this is why we cannot compete directly in terms of 
what kinds of money they put out there to bribe people or to 
stick other countries with unsustainable debt and this kind of 
thing. But what we can do is say to the other countries, 
``look, here are the kinds of things that they have been doing 
around the world, do not fall for it. Do not get tricked into 
this. Deal with them, but deal with them on 21st century terms, 
and deal with us and we are ready to compete on a level playing 
field.''
    I think we are seeing real progress at the national level. 
National governments are becoming much more cautious and 
reading the fine print and so on. What we are seeing now (and 
maybe it is a sign of that success) is that China is trying to 
move to the municipal and provincial level in these countries 
and see if they can find ways to make inroads there. So we are 
going to keep trying to compete with them on that basis.
    Mr. Curtis. Thank you. Mr. Barsa, you are ready to say 
something. I can tell.
    Hon. Barsa. Well, I am ready to say something because I am 
so proud of the model that USAID has for the region compared to 
the Chinese model. Our model of development is truly a model 
where we have countries on a journey to self-reliance.
    Administrator Green has said the goal of our foreign 
assistance is to get countries to the point where foreign 
assistance is not needed. So the best thing that we are doing 
right now is providing a contrast to the Chinese model, which 
is one of dependency. It is really not development in any form.
    Mr. Curtis. I have seen that and I agree with you. And my 
worry is the tantalizing nature of their deal versus our long 
term, sustained help sometimes, I think, does not get compared 
to what you would like it to.
    Hon. Barsa. Well, to followup with what Ambassador Kozak 
said, one of the things we are also doing is we are sharing 
lessons learned, so oftentimes the Chinese will come in selling 
``X'' and delivering ``Y'', so we want to make sure other 
countries have informed decisions and they get these stories 
about how these----
    Mr. Curtis. Thank you. I am going to run out of time. I am 
going to make my last point and that is of Venezuela and my 
great fear that despite all of our best efforts, it is still 
not enough, knowing that we have got to find a way to help the 
good people there and the countries that surround them and 
helping them as well. Thank you very much.
    Mr. Chairman, I am out of time and I yield.
    Mr. Sires. Mr. Levin.
    Mr. Levin. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I am going to have 
my beloved chairman give me the hook when we are out of time 
because I have a lot of questions and I do not know if there 
are other folks waiting on the other side. I definitely do not 
want to block anyone else. And then I have to go to the floor 
to give an amendment.
    I thank you all so much for coming. I want to start by 
asking a question about a country that others, or some 
questions that others may not ask about which is Haiti. Earlier 
this week, The New York Times reported on the ongoing political 
and economic crisis there and I want to read you a little 
excerpt from that powerful and very bleak piece.
    ``Gas shortages are worsening by the day. Hospitals have 
cut services or closed entirely. Public transportation has 
grounded to a halt. Businesses have shuttered. Most schools 
have been closed since early September, leaving millions of 
children idle with no end in sight. Widespread layoffs have 
compounded chronic poverty and hunger. Uncertainty hangs over 
everything.''
    Ambassador Kozak, has the State Department engaged with the 
Moise administration on anti-corruption and accountability 
efforts in the wake of the Petrocaribe investigation?
    Hon. Kozak. Yes, Mr. Levin.
    Mr. Levin. You have. And can you tell me what progress has 
been achieved?
    Hon. Kozak. I was going to give you the broader engagement 
with Haiti.
    Mr. Levin. Well, I am particularly interested in this.
    Hon. Kozak. On Petrocaribe----
    Mr. Levin. Anti-corruption and accountability in the wake 
of the Petrocaribe ongoing scheme----
    Hon. Kozak. I do not know if my colleagues have anything on 
that, but no, we have not addressed that particularly. I have 
not. But I have been on the job for less than a month.
    Mr. Levin. Oh, my goodness, yes.
    Hon. Kozak. So people may have.
    Mr. Levin. All right, but if you would followup, I would 
appreciate that.
    Hon. Kozak. I would say though that the broader problem 
that you just described is very concerning to us. The first 
foreign minister I met with when I took the job the first day 
was the foreign minister of Haiti. And what we are trying 
intensively to do is get the two elected parts of the Haitian 
Government to do what they are supposed to do and work with 
each other and form a government and get over it.
    Basically, you have got the Executive having named a 
government that Parliament will not, cannot, does not seem to 
be able to get to taking a vote on whether to approve it or 
not. Instead, they are trying to get the President to resign or 
some elements are. And that is what has caused the chaos and 
the paralyzation.
    Our Ambassador there, along with a broad core group of 
other countries, is working tirelessly to try to get all the 
different sides to sit down, come together and try to find some 
kind of an accommodation so that you can get the government----
    Mr. Levin. Well, if the government is a kleptocracy and is 
stealing hundreds of millions and billions of dollars meant for 
the development of the country, I am not sure how effective 
that approach will be.
    Earlier this month, the Miami Herald reported that human 
rights defenders are calling for investigations into police 
brutality and misuse of tear gas by the Haitian National 
Police.
    During these recent protests, Ambassador, has the State 
Department raised these serious human rights concerns with the 
Haitian Government?
    Hon. Kozak. We have raised human rights concerns generally, 
but let me say, I mean our experience and I go way back with 
Haiti. Twenty-five years ago, I was special negotiator with 
Haiti and went through some of the crises then.
    One of the few institutions there that has been performing 
recently well is the Haitian National Police. It has gone from 
being a very small organization that was incapable of policing 
the place to now having the capability. Are there abuses 
committed from time to time? Yes. We have helped to build the 
capacity of the police force; part of that capacity is to do 
internal investigations when there are allegations of abuse. So 
we are urging them to use those mechanisms to deal with abuses 
when they occur. But I would not want to tar the entire 
organization since it has actually been doing a pretty good job 
of trying to control the unrest without committing----
    Mr. Levin. Oh, dear. Well, we will have to talk more about 
that in the weeks and honestly, I hope we can because I am 
very, very concerned about what has been happening, the 
massacre in La Saline, the response after that. I may not share 
your sunny view of them.
    I just want to get to another aspect of this. You mentioned 
25 years. OK. The New York Times piece I mentioned talked about 
the United States' troubling history in Haiti. It notes that 
during the cold war, American governments supported, albeit at 
times grudgingly, the authoritarian governments of Francois and 
Jean-Claude Duvalier because of their anti-communist stance.
    By the way, I was there in 1980 and again later and I saw 
this first hand as a young student.
    In January, Haiti broke with precedent and voted with 
Washington at the OAS to reject the legitimacy of Nicolas 
Maduro. Now let me be clear. I believe Maduro is a dictator. He 
has caused the people to suffer. But I also want to be clear on 
why our government does what it does or perhaps just as 
important in this case what it does not do.
    Does the Administration's failure, Ambassador, to more 
vocally defend human rights and good governance in Haiti and 
the our government has said very little about this and it is a 
disaster happening. Does that failure have anything to do with 
Haiti's vote at the OAS earlier this year?
    Hon. Kozak. I would say not, sir. I have headed the Human 
Rights Bureau before I just transferred over to this job, and 
in that capacity we have contributed over the years to the 
development of many of the human rights groups in Haiti in 
developing their capacity and they do a fine job of calling 
out----
    Mr. Levin. Well, they are crying out for our help, sir. 
They are crying out and I respectfully ask you that the 
administration take a much more public stand on human rights in 
Haiti.
    Thanks for your forbearance, Mr. Chairman. I yield back.
    Mr. Sires. Thank you. Congressman Yoho.
    Mr. Yoho. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the time 
and I appreciate your efforts. And I am hoping my words come 
out as soothing as Mr. Curtis', but maybe not.
    Mr. Rooney opened up with our foreign assistance is a 
critical foreign diplomacy tool too valuable not to be utilized 
properly. And I appreciate those words. And I am a guy that 
came up here to get rid of foreign aid, but I found out that 
you are not going to get rid of foreign aid. We led the charge 
on the BUILD Act which developed the United States 
International Development Finance Corporation, but I want it 
used properly.
    And so as I listen to all three of you and I appreciate 
what all three of you do in the agencies you work with, what I 
want to do is not grade you, but I want to grade the results. 
And I think Mr. Gonzalez, you could hear the frustration on the 
other side.
    So our foreign aid goes to rule of law, good governance. I 
look at Haiti. You were just talking about forming a government 
in Haiti. Democracy promotion, infrastructure. Again, I am 
going to point to Haiti because Haiti today has less than 20 
percent of their population has potable water in the 21st 
century in the Western Hemisphere.
    Those for anti-corruption, I have got an article that 
President Pena of Mexico is accused of taking a $100 million 
bribe from El Chapo, the anti-drug production and trafficking 
and we have been to Colombia. I was there four or 5 years ago. 
They were down to 180, 185 hectares. They are up over 500 
hectares. And I know the policies of what happened. And I know 
that President Duque is working to reduce that in half.
    And so when I look at all this and I look at the amount of 
cocaine coming out of Colombia, other Central American 
countries, Peru, and 95 percent of the cocaine coming into 
America goes through Mexico. Mexico has over 70,000 hectares of 
heroin growing. That is not for medicinal use. That is directly 
into my country for our citizens.
    And so, if we were to grade not you, maybe not the agency 
you are in, but the U.S. Government, I guess the results of 
what we have done. Because we have spent billions and billions 
of dollars. You know, if I look just at the war on drugs, it is 
over $1 trillion since Nixon started it.
    If we look in Mexico, it is over $2 billion on the War on 
Drugs.
    And so if are to grade the United States' policies on a 
scale A to D are flunking, where would they be?
    Hon. Barsa. Congressman, thank you for your question. So 
let me start by saying I never would have accepted the 
nomination for this position if I did not feel that the mission 
of USAID was in furtherance of U.S. national security and 
national interest.
    So yes, there are anecdotes, certainly I found them 
cognizant of where maybe aid did not work as intended, but on 
the counter balance, there are stories and anecdotes where 
differences can be made. For example, if I may, in Colombia, 
USAID has numerous programs to help solidify the peace and deal 
with the Venezuelan crisis as well. So just for example, 
Colombia has had to deal with five decades of war.
    Mr. Yoho. Right.
    Hon. Barsa. Chaos at all levels. So an example of the USAID 
programs making a difference is we are working with the Duque 
Administration for land titling in a place called Ovejas.
    Mr. Yoho. Right.
    Hon. Barsa. This is a USAID program. So what is happening, 
this program here is getting people who did not have title to 
land titled to the land. What we found is when people have 
title to the land, the recidivism goes down to less than 25 
percent. But again, it is an incremental program.
    When I was being confirmed_on the Senate side mostly_I 
think I was unique in that I said I would be coming back to 
Congress with an example of failures because I think it is only 
natural, as we have tried different things, that not everything 
is going to work. But I committed to them and I committed to 
you and members of this committee as well to modify and we have 
metrics in place to measure what we do and we think----
    Mr. Yoho. How long have those metrics been in place?
    Hon. Barsa. Metrics have been in place since the beginning 
of our programs, but what I have been since I have arrived here 
I have looked at metrics this way.
    Mr. Yoho. I am going to cut you off there, because I want 
to get some points across. You are all talking about well, and 
it is almost like a checklist, well, we do good governance. We 
do democracy building. We do this and we check the boxes off. 
The rhetoric is there, but the actions are not or the results.
    And I look at our policies and yes, we agree with 
everything you say and it would be wonderful if they would 
follow through, but then I look at what President Trump did. We 
are blocking trade until you do something about helping us with 
the border. We need tougher action in what we are doing and I 
am not saying maybe that is the best thing, but it was 
effective.
    And I need to hear from you guys and feel free to call my 
office, slip something under the door anonymously, as long as 
it does not blow up, and just let me know what--and it is 
probably our fault. And if you guys would just say if you 
knuckleheads in Congress would allow us to do this, we would 
get better results. Because what we are doing, I am not seeing 
it work, as good as it should for the amount of money put into 
it and the amount of effort that you guys put in.
    And I appreciate what you said about the Mexican law 
enforcement. They are out there every day risking their life, 
but you have got corrupt mayors. You have got corrupt--I mean a 
mayor cannot get elected hardly to speak out. They get murdered 
the next day. Or the president. If the president of the country 
of Mexico is that corrupt, how in the heck do you expect 
anybody else to be?
    So we have got to do something different and if they want 
to go to China, I hate to say let them, because they are going 
to be coming back and realize that China is going to dictate to 
them everything they do. And I think we need to focus on what 
we are going to do with the allies that believe the way we 
believe and the things that we do and we need to draw that line 
in the sand. You are either with us or you are not. You choose. 
I am not going to dictate to you what you do. It was more of a 
rant.
    Anybody got any further comments if the chairman will allow 
me?
    Mr. Sires. You have 30 seconds.
    Mr. Yoho. Thirty seconds, if somebody wants to chime in.
    Mr. Glenn, you have your hand up first.
    Mr. Glenn. I appreciate the concern. It is one that we all 
deal with every day as we do our jobs. How do we make this more 
effective? How do we make it work?
    Just one piece of data, 49 percent of the cocaine 
interdicted in the Western Hemisphere is done by partner 
nations. They are capable and able to do that because of the 
assistance that we provided. If they were not interdicting that 
49 percent, it falls on us to do it and it is expensive.
    Mr. Yoho. Oh, it is terrible. And then we have got to look 
internally on why are we using so much drugs in this country. I 
mean we have got the demand. I appreciate what you all do and I 
hope you do not take that too critical. Thank you.
    Hon. Kozak. Yes. I would just add, I think you have heard 
from all three of us about the results of the programs versus 
the political will of our partner governments. You can have 
really good programs where all your metrics and evaluations 
show that you have created a capability. The cops are capable 
of investigating a crime, uncovering corruption, and all of 
that. But if you have a senior official who is taking money 
from El Chapo or something, you are not going to get the 
result.
    So it is more of a political than a program problem and I 
think you pointed that out too. I mentioned that our President 
had said with the three countries in Central America, we are 
going to cut this off until we see some political----
    Mr. Yoho. And I supported that.
    Hon. Kozak. Yes, so that is the kind of----
    Mr. Yoho. Mr. Chairman, remember when we were down there on 
that first condel? I went out and we were in Mexico and they 
were talking about the $2 billion and the DEA and all this 
stuff we are doing on drugs and we have been doing it for year 
after year after year, but yet, drugs keep coming and coming 
and coming.
    And I asked, I said, do you guys have the want to end this? 
And they said, well, of course we do. Well, the results are not 
showing that and I shared a story about my mom wanted me to 
play the piano and for 7 years she sewed and got the money for 
little Ted to play the piano. Seven years later, I cannot play 
the piano. You know why? I did not want to.
    Do they want to change? And if they change, they will 
change.
    Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Mr. Sires. I do not know about little Ted, but--I have some 
questions. I have been dealing for years with Colombia and one 
of the things that struck me was the amount of growth that 
President Santos left behind of the coca growth. And now 
President Duque has to deal with what he was left with.
    Once it starts, it is very difficult to stop.
    Where are we in terms of trying to reduce the amount of 
growth in Colombia?
    Mr. Glenn. Maybe I can begin and John can finish because 
that is kind of how we see this going.
    Eradication efforts and interdiction efforts are key at the 
front end of this. There has to be a deterrent to the behavior. 
The cultivation of coca is too lucrative. There is no 
alternative development program. Without there being a stick to 
disincentivize it that will be more profitable and replace a 
farmer's revenue that they get from coca. So we provide the 
stick. We provide the disincentives for the activity.
    Because of President Duque and his commitment to 
eradication, we are seeing great advancements. They are working 
on getting aerial eradication which is a tool. It is not the 
solution. It is a tool that they can use to effectively go 
about eradicating coca. They have quadrupled the number. I 
think they have gotten up to 159, if I am not mistaken, manual 
eradication forces. That is a vast increase over what they were 
left with when they took over the presidency.
    So we are seeing positive developments.
    Mr. Sires. Did President Santos drop the ball on this?
    Mr. Glenn. I do not want to say that President Santos 
dropped the ball. I think he had a different vision. He thought 
that peace would bring a commensurate reduction without having 
to go with the stick. I think the stick is absolutely 
necessary.
    Hon. Barsa. Thank you, Congressman. As was stated, USAID 
and INL work hand-in-glove throughout the world, particularly 
in the Western Hemisphere and in Latin America and in the 
Caribbean. So with the advent of peace, the Duque 
administration now has more access to areas where they 
previously did not have access to, but thanks to the 
partnership with INL, there are more secure places for USAID 
programming to take place.
    I mentioned the land titling that is just one program that 
helps with downgrading recidivism for growth of coca. There are 
other programs as well. We work with the private sector to 
increase growth in the private sector.
    I was recently in Colombia. The first event I was at there 
with something called the Rural Financial Initiative where it 
is private sector banks going out to rural areas, areas 
previously controlled by FARC and narcoterrorism and they are 
helping campesinos and others with private sector loans and 
banking services. What this allows is the growth of 
entrepreneurship in these areas, denying spaces for 
narcoterrorists to operate, leading to licit economies. So 
those are the examples we have in terms of helping make these 
areas more secure and we are seeing progress.
    Mr. Sires. Mr. Secretary, I have been reading about Chile. 
I just cannot believe that just because they raised the tolls 
on--they should come to New York--on the train that it has 
caused all these problems. But do you see anything else that is 
causing that?
    Hon. Kozak. I must say, Mr. Chairman, I share your 
suspicions that there is more to it. We have seen and we are 
still analyzing, but for example, we had some pretty good 
reports the other day that there was a lot of external actor 
activity on social media stirring up violence with 
misinformation and this kind of thing; coming from Russia in 
this case.
    Mr. Sires. That is what I--I just read an article about 
that, that basically this was the most stable country over the 
last few years and this is another example of where Russia 
tries to undermine our efforts everywhere in the world. They 
are not good friends, you know. Their intention is to destroy 
this country.
    And I really do believe that what is happening in Venezuela 
is all part of an invasion without arms, sending four million 
people out, trying to to destabilize Colombia, trying to 
destabilize others, trying to destabilize the entire region. 
And I know that they probably had a hand in it. But I would, 
you know, I know that you probably are keeping track, as I am, 
of what is happening in Chile and the influence, the external 
influence that is happening there. Thank you.
    Ranking Member.
    Mr. Rooney. Yes, I was going to ask a question, but I think 
I would rather just followup on what you raised because it is 
so important. We have got these experts here, you know, there 
is activities of Hezbollah, like I mentioned, particularly down 
by Paraguay; these Russians. We got Iran, rumors of Iran in 
Nicaragua. It may be just while you are all here together, just 
generally, if we could get your thoughts on how widespread and 
what these people who oppose the United States are doing and 
any thoughts about what we might do about it in the short run?
    Hon. Kozak. I can start. I mean you named most of the bad 
actors there. I would add to that Cuba which built up a 
capability throughout the region going back decades with 
influence in different organizations, unions, student 
organizations, journalism, and so on. They were able to turn 
that up and down. You have got Hezbollah operating, as you 
mentioned, in the area with Paraguay and Argentina. And then 
Russia, Russia clearly is involved with Venezuela. They very 
visibly sent troops there to try to buck up Maduro. They are 
providing the life line in terms of Rosneft marketing oil when 
nobody else will buy Venezuelan oil and they are using Rosneft 
basically to evade the sanctions and provide effort there. So a 
lot of the malign actors are acting against our interests and 
against the interests of our partners in the region. We are 
working it, we are working it hard, but it is very much a 
factor. This is not all home grown. There are a lot of people 
playing around in a very bad way.
    Mr. Rooney. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. Anybody else have a 
thought before we wrap up?
    Hon. Barsa. Certainly, for USAID programs for democracy and 
governance throughout the region, what we are seeing is 
certainly the primary malevolent actor in the region is Cuba as 
most repressive, so we have our programs supporting democratic 
governance, civil society within Cuba. What we are seeing 
replicated is the use of the Cuban play book in Venezuela, 
Nicaragua, and in other countries as well.
    And it is not just the play book, sometimes you will hear 
stories and allegations of Cuban actors physically in these 
countries as well, so there is no doubt whatsoever that Cuba is 
the most--biggest malign actor in the region and seeking to 
destabilize democratically elected governments and free 
society.
    Mr. Glenn. I would just mention quickly that one aspect of 
foreign assistance that does not get recognized as much is the 
facilitating effect that the money has in terms of helping our 
U.S. interagency law enforcement interact with partners in 
Latin America to confront these kinds of issues and to be the 
premier partner so that it is not Russia, it is not China, when 
they look for assistance and when they look for help on 
criminal issues in their own country they turn to the FBI. They 
turn to the DEA. They turn to ICE or CBP or HSI or the Marshals 
or TSA or any number of the partners that we help to 
facilitate.
    Mr. Rooney. Thank you.
    Mr. Sires. Well, thank you all for being here today for 
this important hearing. Promoting the democratic transition in 
Venezuela, addressing the root causes of migration from the 
Northern Triangle and confronting the challenge posed by China 
will require sustained commitment from the United States to 
support our regional allies.
    I look forward to continue to work with my colleagues on a 
bipartisan basis to deepen our engagement with the Western 
Hemisphere. I thank all the witnesses and all the members that 
are here today. With that, this hearing is adjourned.
    [Whereupon, at 3:49 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]

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