Congress wants to send aid to Americas

from The Miami Herald

By LESLEY CLARK
lclark@MiamiHerald.com

WASHINGTON --
Latin American countries and the Caribbean -- but not Cuba -- would get an infusion of $2.5 billion over the next 10 years to help reduce poverty and expand the middle class under a bipartisan Congressional proposal that has the support of the Senate's two Cuban-American lawmakers.

Republican Mel Martinez of Florida teamed up with Democrat Bob Menendez of New Jersey on Thursday to introduce a bill they said would fund programs to improve education, housing, healthcare and economic development in a region where 40 percent of the population lives below the poverty line.

''In an age of globalization, we are inextricably linked to the rest of the world, and to no people are we more closely connected than our neighbors in Latin America,'' said Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on international development and foreign assistance.

''This region has enjoyed the growth of democracy, but not the fruits of economic opportunity,'' Martinez said.

Menendez, who pushed similar legislation in past years as a member of the U.S. House, said the aid is in the United States' best interest, suggesting that it could help create a greater market for U.S. goods as well as curb illegal immigration by improving economic and political conditions.

The Washington Office on Latin America, a liberal research and advocacy organization, welcomed the legislation, noting that poverty, inequality and social exclusion are the three biggest problems facing Latin America and the Caribbean.

Under the proposal, the money would be split between the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Inter-American Development Bank. Countries interested in participating would be required to contribute 10 percent of the cost of a project and a matching fund would be established for private-sector contributions.