U.S. Hegemony in Latin America: The Southern Command as an Instrument of Consensus and Coercion

Vidal, Camila; Wietchikoski, Luciana

doi:10.1590/S0102-8529.20224403e20210038

Camila Vidal

Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), Florianópolis - SC, Brazil; camilafeixvidal@gmail.com. ORCID iD 0000-0003-2205-4686.

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2205-4686

Luciana Wietchikoski

Unisinos University and Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), Florianópolis – SC, Brazil;wietch.luciana@yahoo.com.br. ORCID iD 0000-0002-1629-4387.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1629-4387

Camila Felix Vidal is an International Relations Professor in the Economy and International Relations Department and in the Graduate International Relations Program at the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC). She is a Member of the National Institute of Science and Technology to United States Studies (INCT-INEU), Institute of Memory and Human Rights (IMDH/UFSC) and Research Group in Strategic Studies and International Politics (GEPPIC/UFSC). She holds her Doctorate and Master’s degree from the Rio Grande do Sul Federal University’s Political Science Graduate Program (UFRGS), and a BA in International Relations from Florida International University (FIU). Some of the articles she recently published include ‘Polarização Política e Partidária nos Estados Unidos (1936-2016)’ in Opinião Pública (vol. 27, 2021) and ‘The Power of Ideas: The Fórum da Liberdade, 1988-2018’ in Contexto Internacional (vol. 42.1, 2020).

Luciana Wietchikoski is a Postdoctoral Researcher in Graduate International Relations Program in Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC). She holds Ph.D. and Master’s degrees from the Graduate Political Science Program (UFRGS) and a BA in History from Passo Fundo University and is a Member of the Research Group in Strategic Studies and International Politics (GEPPIC/UFSC) (GEPPIC/UFSC) and the Studies Group on Security and International Politics (UFRGS). Her current research interests are US-Latin American relations; US security foreign policy in South America; international constructions of ideas about Brazil; and think tanks in a comparative perspective.

Component /Task force	Base location	Description	Purpose/activities
U.S. Army South	Fort Sam Houston, Texas UNITS: New Orleans Honduras Cuba Honduras	Command of the SOUTHCOM Army Service Component, responsible for all Army forces in the theater.	- Conducts unified ground operations; - Defines and maintains theater and conducts security, cooperation operations, and activities; - Supports regional disaster relief and drug enforcement efforts; - Exercises oversight, planning, and logistical support for humanitarian and civic assistance projects; and- Conducts and supports multinational operations and security cooperation to contain transnationals and strengthen regional security.
12 Air Force	Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona	Responsible for SOUTHCOM Air Force forces.	- Conducts security cooperation and provides air, space, and cyber capabilities across the region; - Acts as executive agent for future operation sites; - Oversight of joint/combined radar surveillance architecture and air transport; - Regional disaster relief and anti-drug operations exercises; and- Stops aggression.
U.S. Marine Corps Forces, South	Miami, Florida	US Marine Corps Service Component Command for SOUTHCOM.	- Peacekeeping, humanitarian assistance, and disaster relief; - Building security forces to detect, detain, and defend critical infrastructure and assets; - Trains partner nations for U.N. peacekeeping missions in Haiti, Congo, and the Middle East; - Conducts deployment and relocation planning and execution of assigned and attached Navy forces; and- Performs other operational missions as assigned.
U.S. Naval Forces/4th Fleet5	Naval Station Mayport, Jacksonville, Florida	Fleet with the primary mission of maintaining and training operational units (providing advanced sea-based presence to ensure freedom of maneuver, as well as developing cooperative relationships with partners in the region).	- Security cooperation activities; - Maritime security operations; and- Contingency operations.
Special Operations	Homestead Air Force Base, Florida	Provides the main contingency response force and plans, prepares, and conducts special operations.	- Controls all Special Operations Forces in the region; and- Establishes and operates a Joint Special Operations Task Force when directed.-> Examples of organized operations:Fused Response: Annual exercise with partner nations and government agencies.Fuerzas Comando: Special operations skills competition and seminar for senior leaders designed to promote inter-military relationships, interoperability, and regional security.Panamax: Combined/Joint Multinational Task Force Exercise to respond to requests from the governments of Panama and Colombia to secure and ensure the safe passage of traffic through the Panama Canal.
Joint Task Force Bravo	Soto Cano, Honduras	Operates an all-weather, day/night forward airbase, C-5 Soto Cano, Honduras.	- Organizes multilateral exercises with partner nations; -Combating transnational organized crime; -Humanitarian assistance/disaster relief efforts; and-Partner capability development.
Joint Task Force Guantanamo	Guantanamo Bay, Cuba		- Conducts detention and interrogation operations in support of the War on Terror; - Coordinates and implements detainee screening operations; - Supports law enforcement and war crimes investigations, as well as Military Commissions for Detainees Enemy Combatants; and - Supports mass migration operations at Naval Station Guantanamo.
Joint Interagency Task Force South	Key West, Florida	Interagency task force that integrates and synchronizes U.S. anti-drug operations.	- Acts as a catalyst for integrated and synchronized anti-drug operations across agencies; - Is responsible for detecting and monitoring suspicious air and maritime drug activity in the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and eastern Pacific; - Collects, processes, and disseminates anti-drug intelligence for interagency operations; and- Works in coordination with the Northern Command on a variety of anti-drug and trafficking operations.
Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies (CHDS)	Washington, DC	Educational center managed by SOUTHCOM.	Offers education, dissemination, research, and knowledge sharing activities on defense and policymaking with regional military and political leaders.

Year	LATIN AMERICAN STATES AS A THREAT/PROBLEMS	THREAT/INTERNAL NON-STATE PROBLEMS IN LA	EXTERNAL STATE THREAT to LA	EXTERNAL NON-STATE THREAT to LA
2000	Absent	- Drug trafficking	Absent	Absent
2001	Absent	- Illegal immigration; - Illegal arms trafficking; and - Corruption and organized crime.	Absent	Absent
2002	Absent	- Drug trafficking; - Illegal immigration;- Political instability; and - Corruption and ‘weak governments’.	Absent	Terrorism
2003	Absent	- Drug and arms trafficking	Absent	Terrorism
2004	Absent	- Criminal organizations; and - FARCs.	Absent	Terrorism
2005	Absent	- Drug trafficking;- Narco-terrorism; - Money laundering; - Criminal organizations; - Natural disasters; and - Illegal immigration.	Absent	Terrorism
2006	Absent	- Drug trafficking; - Narco-terrorism; and - FARCs;	Absent	Terrorism
2007	Cuba (as a problem)	- Organized crime; - Drug trafficking; and - FARCs;	Absent	Terrorism
2008	Cuba (as a problem)	- Organized crime; - Drug trafficking; - Poverty and inequality; and - Violence and crime.	Iran	Terrorism
2009	Absent	- Drug trafficking; - Narco-terrorism (FARCs); and - Criminal organizations.	Absent	Terrorism
2010	Absent	- Natural and human disasters; - Organized crime; - Drug and human trafficking; - Money laundering; - Poverty and inequality; - Corruption; and - Narco-terrorism (FARCs and SL).	China Russia Iran	Absent
2011	Venezuela (as a problem)	- Illicit trafficking; and - Natural disaster.	China Russia Iran	Terrorism
2012	Absent	- Illicit trafficking; - Organized crime; - Drug trafficking (FARCs and S.L.); - Humanitarian crisis; and - Natural disasters.	China Russia Iran	Terrorism
2013	Absent	- Transnational organized crime; and -FARCs.	China Russia	Terrorism
2014	Absent	- Transnational organized crime; - Illicit trafficking; -Immigration/refugees; and -Violence.	China Russia Iran	Terrorism
2015	Venezuela (as a problem)	- Drug trafficking; - Immigration/refugees; - Transnational crime; and - FARCs.	China Russia Iran	Terrorism
2016	Absent	- Poverty and inequality; -Violence and corruption; - Chronic unemployment; - Deteriorating security and ‘weak’ governments; - Transnational crime; - Immigration/refugees; and - FARCs.	China Russia Iran	Terrorism
2017	Absent	- Drug and human trafficking; -Violence; and -Corruption.	China Russia Iran	Terrorism
2018	Venezuela (as a threat) Cuba (as a threat)	- Drug, arms, people trafficking; - Illegal immigration; and - Natural disasters.	China Russia Iran North Korea	Terrorism
2019	Venezuela (as a threat) Cuba (as a threat)Nicaragua (as a threat)	-Organized crime; - Natural disasters; -Weak institutions; - Poverty; - Corruption; and - Violence.	China Russia Iran	Terrorism
2020	Venezuela (as a threat) Cuba (as a threat)	-Transnational crimes; -Extremisms; and - People smuggling.	China Russia Iran	Terrorism

Partner State – USA	Partner Nation – LA	Partnership establishment
Arkansas	Guatemala	2002
Connecticut	Uruguay	2000
Delaware	Trinidad-Tobago	2004
Columbia	Jamaica	1999
Florida	Guyana	2003
Florida	Virgin Islands	2006
Georgia	Argentina	2016
Kentucky	Ecuador	1996
Louisiana	Belize	1996
Louisiana	Haiti	2011
Massachusetts	Paraguay	2001
Missouri	Panama	1996
New Hampshire	El Salvador	2000
New Mexico	Costa Rica	2006
New York	Brazil	2019
Puerto Rico	Honduras	1998
Puerto Rico	Dominican Rep.	2003
South Carolina	Colombia	2012
South Carolina	Suriname	2006
Texas	Chile	2008
West Virginia	Peru	1996
Wisconsin	Nicaragua	2003

School	Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC)	Inter-American Defense College (IADC)	Inter-American Air Force Academy	Naval Small Craft Instruction and Technical Training School (NAVSCIATTS)
Established	2001	1962	1943	1963
Institution to which it reports	Department of Defense	OAS through the Inter-American Defense Board	Department of the Air Force	US Special Forces
Headquarters	Georgia	Washington, D.C	Texas	Mississippi
Official Language	Spanish	Spanish, French, English, and Portuguese	Spanish	There is no data
Total graduates	25,683 (2018)	2,669 (2020)	800/year	13,000 (2020)
Characterization of students	MilitaryCivil police officers;Civil (Ministries of Defense and Civil Police)	High-ranking officers, the Armed Forces, police, and civil servants of governments	Aeronautical officers;Civil and federal police officers	Civil and Military Security Forces
Origin of students	36 L.A. and CAN countries	26 L.A. countries	Latin America	More than 120 countries
Recruitment	Embassies and their agencies in the home country, plus further review at the Department of State	OAS member countries can nominate candidates	U.S. Office of Security Cooperation and partner nations	There is no data
Number of courses offered	16	2	33	21
The courses	They encompass training content for combating illicit and disasters and promoting human rights.	Specialization and Masters (since 2013) in Inter-American Defense and Security	- Military training; - Operations training; - Aircraft and aviation systems training.	Vessel, communications, armaments, security, intelligence, and instructor training from partner nations.
Average of courses	From 47 weeks (for Army officers and generals) to 4 weeks (Human Rights)	11 months	8 weeks (for non-commissioned officers) and14 weeks (officials)	There is no data
Who prepares the courses?	U.S. Government Agencies and U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command. They support the security cooperation plans of the Northern and Southern Commands.	There is no data	SOUTHCOM Engagement Plan and partner country request	There is no data
Who are instructors	U.S. military and civilians and partner nations’ military and police.	From OAS member countries	U.S. officers and non-commissioned officers andguests from Latin America.	High-ranking U.S. and partner nation officers and non-commissioned officers.

[1] Camila Felix Vidal is an International Relations Professor in the Economy and International Relations Department and in the Graduate International Relations Program at the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC). She is a Member of the National Institute of Science and Technology to United States Studies (INCT-INEU), Institute of Memory and Human Rights (IMDH/UFSC) and Research Group in Strategic Studies and International Politics (GEPPIC/UFSC). She holds her Doctorate and Master’s degree from the Rio Grande do Sul Federal University’s Political Science Graduate Program (UFRGS), and a BA in International Relations from Florida International University (FIU). Some of the articles she recently published include ‘Polarização Política e Partidária nos Estados Unidos (1936-2016)’ in Opinião Pública (vol. 27, 2021) and ‘The Power of Ideas: The Fórum da Liberdade, 1988-2018’ in Contexto Internacional (vol. 42.1, 2020).

Brasil

Brasil

U.S. Hegemony in Latin America: The Southern Command as an Instrument of Consensus and Coercion

Hegemonia dos EUA na América Latina: O Comando Sul como instrumento de consenso e coerção

Abstract