Republican-controlled Congress unlikely to change US aid policy in Latin America

The Republican takeover of Congress will not likely prompt significant changes of U.S. development cooperation policy in Latin America, regional experts predict, while immigration specialists hope bilateral relations won’t decline following the results of the midterm election.

Carl Meacham, a former congressional staffer for Republican Sen. Richard Lugar who now serves as director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Americas Program, underscored that the United States has “largely neglected” Latin America as a priority for development policy, with aid to the region falling to $1.5 billion from $2 billion over the past four years.

Speaking on the sidelines of a CSIS panel discussion Wednesday in Washington, D.C., Meacham noted that although Republicans particularly support development banks, he does not anticipate any significant policy change.