The Agency for International Development: “Soft Power” that has advanced U.S. interests--a vignette from personal experience

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James Rowles, “El Salvador is holding Abrego García in violation of international law and binding provisions of the American Convention on Human Rights,” Trenchant Observations, April 18, 2025

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When I arrived in El Salvador on a flight from San José, Costa Rica in 1990, during what was known as “the second offensive”, I was struck by the number of army troops on the highway from the airport to San Salvador, the capital. The rebels had earlier kidnapped and held hostage the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS) at the Camino Real Hotel, where I happened to be staying.

I was leading an evaluation of a USAID-funded program of graduate legal studies at the Faculty of Law of the University of Costa Rica (UCR) in San José, which included scholarships for lawyers from different countries in the region doing a graduate year of specialization in agrarian law, criminal law, or public law.

In addition to attending classes and interviewing students and professors at the University, as well as graduates and their employers in San José, I also traveled to El Salvador, Guatemala, and the Dominican Republic to interview former fellowship recipients and their employers in two of the specialties of the program, agrarian law and criminal law.

The UCR graduate legal studies program and fellowships were part of a broader effort by A.I.D. to strengthen legal education and judicial and legal reform in Central and South America.

Strengthening the legal system was viewed as a key component of a strategy aimed at developing and strengthening democratic governments and the rule of law, a goal which was from the beginning central to the Alliance for Progress which was launched by President John F. Kennedy in 1961.

In San Salvador, I remember the apprehension I felt as I walked across a big, empty intersection and open space—there were no cars on the streets—between where my armored car from the Embassy let me off and the entrance to the secure compound of the National Police. There I interviewed the supervisor of one of the graduates of the UCR criminal law program.

The situation in the country was highly volatile. An armed insurrection was in progress. Only days before, there had been an armed clash several blocks from my hotel.

My interview with the police official was quite interesting. I learned that the graduate of the UCR program was contributing significantly to the reform of police procedures with the goal of improving their compliance with international human rights norms. My interview with the graduate himself corroborated the kind of work he was doing.

I stayed only one night in El Salvador, according to my careful plan. I felt considerable relief when my plane took off for my next destination, Guatemala City.

While USAID quit funding legal reform efforts like the program described, slow but steady progress was being made before the assistance ended. Moreover, this progress continued even after USAID assistance ended, under the impetus of the graduates of the UCR program. They had studied the modern trends in their fields, and they wanted to help modernize their countries. The seeds had been planted.

Legal reform, however, is a long-term project. It is only one of a number of elements contributing to democracy. Its impact is significant, even critical, but such efforts require a strategic and long-term perspective on the part of funding agencies.

There can be little doubt, however, that USAID was on the right track, trying to strengthen democratic institutions and the rule of law.

Abandoning that goal and the funding of similar programs has contributed to the instability in the region, and the seemingly hopeless political and economic conditions that drive so many to emigrate looking for a better life in the U.S.

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James Rowles is a former Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School and professor of international law at other universities.

He studied the history of Nazi Germany at Stanford, and has studied and worked on human rights, judicial reform, and access to justice projects in many countries in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and in Afghanistan and Russia. At Harvard Law School, he taught a course on “Law, Human Rights, and the Struggle for Democracy in Latin America”.

At the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) of the OAS, he worked on human rights cases involving forced disappearances, executions, and torture in a number of authoritarian countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Recent Books by the Author

James P. Rowles, The Rape of American Democracy: Republican Actions and Democratic Failures, 2016-2021 (2024). Available on Amazon, and from IngramSpark by clicking on a link here.

James P. Rowles, Don’t Be Stupid. Pay Attention, Damn It! Advice for Undecided Voters and Voters Leaning Toward Trump (2024). Available on Amazon,and from IngramSpark by clicking on a link here.

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