In testimony before Congress in March, Gen. Bantz J. Craddock, the commander of American military forces in Latin America, said the sanctions had excluded Latin American officers from American training programs and could allow China, which has been seeking military ties to Latin America, to fill the void.
"We now risk losing contact and interoperability with a generation of military classmates in many nations of the region, including several leading countries," General Craddock told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Ecuador has lost $15 million since 2003. Home to one of the largest American military bases in Latin America, Ecuador “has become increasingly important as a staging ground for American surveillance of everything from the cocaine trade to immigrant smuggling.” Imposing sanctions on Ecuador risks reprisal in the form of booting the American military out of the country.
What does the US gain in exchange for the immunity agreements the administration is trying to extort? Not much.
Many legal scholars say it is unlikely that Americans would ever face the court because its focus is on the most egregious of war crimes, like systematic genocide, and the court is intended to try cases from countries where the judicial systems are unable or unwilling to handle such cases. There are also safeguards that would give the United States' own military and civilian courts jurisdiction over Americans.
Could it be that the president wants to protect himself from war crimes prosecutions?
