Just the Facts: a civilian's guide to U.S. defense and security assistance to Latin America and the Caribbean. This web site presents the most exhaustive database available anywhere of U.S. defense and security assistance to the hemisphere. Just the Facts is the product of a collaboration with the Latin America Working Group, a Washington-based coalition of sixty nongovernmental organizations.

Read or download: "Just the Facts: A quick tour of U.S. defense and security assistance to Latin America and the Caribbean," a brief (twelve-page) summary of our findings. Published December 1998.

• World-wide web format (.html)
• Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) format

Leer o bajar: "Solo los Hechos: Un Recorrido Rápido de la Ayuda de los EE.UU. en Materia de Defensa y Seguridad para América Latina y el Caribe," un breve (12 páginas) resumen de nuestros hallazgos. Publicado en Enero de 1999.

• Formato Internet (.html)
• Formato Adobe Acrobat (.pdf)

Read a press release about the July 14 launch of Just the Facts.
(Adobe Acrobat <.pdf> format)

Altered States: Security and Demilitarization in Central America, the new (October 1997) book by CIP and the Arias Foundation.

"Importance of the proposed Multilateral Counter-Drug Center to U.S. strategic interests in the region," an April 30, 1998 speech given by CIP associate Adam Isacson at the University of Panama.

"Open the Files," by Adam Isacson and Susan Peacock. A September 1997 CIP International Policy Report on an important chance to aid demilitarization in Honduras.

"Latin America's Costly Arms Sales." An August 18, 1997 letter from CIP Associate Adam Isacson to The Washington Post. (Note: clicking on the link will take you to washingtonpost.com.)

Read a summary of the May 7, 1997 seminar The CIA in Honduras - Discussion on the CIA's role in Honduras in the early 1980s. Amb. Jack Binns, ambassador to Honduras during 1980-81 spoke publicly for the first time on his experiences.

Read an October 30, 1996 report on the status of U.S. military bases in Panama.

"High-tech weapons ban good for Latin America." Read an October 11, 1996 op-ed by CIP Associate Adam Isacson.

Read a 1996 report on the status of El Salvador's peace process, based on the findings of a recent mixed Congressional staff / NGO delegation to El Salvador.

Click here to read "Altered States,"the International Policy Report CIP published in December 1995.

Click here to read "El Salvador's Death Squads,"the International Policy Report CIP published in March 1994.

Visit "New and Noteworthy," regularly-updated links to recent media coverage of security in the Western Hemisphere.

Visit our rapidly-growing bibliography of hyperlinks to Western-Hemisphere security publications on the web.

Two years ago, the National Human Rights Commissioner of Honduras submitted to the U.S. government a request for documents needed to prosecute military officers for human-rights crimes. Read a summary of this request.

On September 19, 1996, the U.S. government declassified training manuals used as late as 1991 for the instruction of Latin American soldiers. These manuals included some "objectionable material," including instructions in clear violation of human rights standards.

• Read the Defense Department "Fact Sheet" detailing the manuals' use and quoting the objectionable passages.
• Read the March 10, 1992 Defense Department report of the investigation into the manuals' content.
• Read a 1992 memo detailing "Department of Defense policy on intelligence and counterintelligence training of non-United States persons."

Read a copy of the U.S. government Intelligence Oversight Board's long-awaited report on intelligence agencies' operations in Guatemala, and draw your own conclusions. Or click here to read other organizations' conclusions.

"Arias Foundation Poll Finds Little Support for Guatemala's Army." View the surprising results of a poll of Guatemalan public opinion on demilitarization.