The U.S. State Dept. is taking steps to continue counterdrug operations in Bolivia, where it is arranging -- and will pay for -- the annual delivery of more than a quarter-million liters of fuel to the Government of Bolivia. According to a contracting document located via a routine search of the FedBizOpps database, this foreign-assistance program will enable the Morales Administration to carry out air-based operations executed in conjunction with the U.S. Embassy's Narcotics Affairs Section (NAS).

Expansion of Haiti's ability to sell domestically produced goods in regional and global markets -- while simultaneously encouraging private investment leading to a thriving tourism industry -- are goals that the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) says it hopes to achieve under the latest phase of an existing agency program.

The Haiti Market Chain Enhancement (MarChE) program, as the endeavor is known, seeks to build upon previous efforts to bring globally accepted "best practices" to commercial sectors such as the cacao, mango, and handicrafts markets. According to a Statement of Work located during a routine search of the FedBizOpps database, USAID is soliciting the help of a private contractor capable of identifying additional Haitian markets that have the greatest potential to maximize such assistance.

In an otherwise comprehensive report, Indigenous Peruvians Oppose New Oil Concessions On Their Lands, the Environmental New Service (ENS) noted that just last week it came to light that "U.S. taxpayers' money funded the studies behind the creation of the most controversial blocks" of oil concessions in the Peruvian Amazon. While ENS indeed confirmed that the U.S. is directly involved in the exploitation of the Amazon, allow me to offer one clarification: Washington, D.C.'s financial backing of the pseudo-research justifying the endeavor was revealed to the public nearly two years ago, right here at the Narcosphere (see Peru Oil, Gas Tech Project Seeks To Lure Foreign Investors).

For the second time this month, the U.S. Trade & Development Agency (USTDA) has figured out a way to siphon money from the U.S. Treasury and transfer it to Ecopetrol of Colombia. Whereas the previous handout (see Narcosphere Jan. 3) was geared toward the modernization of the thriving company's Barrancabermeja refinery complex, the most recently discovered scheme provides yet another smokescreen for the fleecing of U.S. taxpayers: Colombian oil pipeline security.

The following piece originally appeared via ThePeacockReport.com (TPR) Jan. 31, 2006

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is ringing in the New Year with a plan to address the arguably unbearable time it takes for airline passengers to traverse their way through screening checkpoints, The Peacock Report has discovered. TSA will achieve this heightened scale of efficiency by joining hands with another hallowed U.S. institution: the advertising industry.

A proposed alternative-development program for Peruvian coca-growing regions was released today by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which seeks comments on a draft Scope of Work (SOW) comprising potential U.S. policy changes envisioned for Peru in the 2008-2011 time frame.

The document focuses on the attempted stimulation of commercial endeavors for farmers and others currently involved in coca production. However, USAID ackowledges that it has limited expectation for additional volunteers to give up coca growing; consequently, rather than taking a carrot-and-stick approach, the agency's alternative development vision for the next few years may center upon what it euphemistically calls "post-programmed" eradication, indicating an escalated use of force to encourage participation in the U.S.-led endeavor.

The following is opinion/commentary based on a U.S. government planning document

Modernization and expansion of Ecopetrol's Barrancabermeja oil refinery in Colombia is slated to be partially funded by U.S. taxpayers, courtesy of the U.S. Trade & Development Agency (USTDA), the corporate welfare arm of the White House.

The Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) is embarking upon a five-year, $363 million "tactical infrastructure" project along both the northern and southern U.S. border, where it will build Customs- and Border Protection-related "roads, low-water crossings, temporary and permanent vehicle barriers, pedestrian barriers, stadium lighting, fencing, and bridges."

The U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) and U.S. Army South, whose realm of "responsibility" includes Latin America and the Caribbean, is gearing up for the outsourcing of what they are characterizing as "humanitarian assistance and disaster preparedness [HA/DP], assessment, logistics and training." This contracting action would keep private-sector service providers on standby in the event of a disaster, such as an earthquake or hurricane, and -- purportedly -- seeks to mitigate future need for direct, U.S. military involvement in these matters.

The following piece originally appeared via The Peacock Report (TPR).

The term "psychological operations," or psyops, is well known these days even outside of military and public-policy circles. But what exactly are psyops, aside from aerial leafleting of "enemy" territory or the surreptitious broadcasting of pre-packaged media into "rogue" nations? Thanks to a recent contract that the U.S. Special Operations Command (SOC) awarded to Torrance, California-based Kelton Rhoads, Ph.D. and his Working Psychology organization, TPR was able to pin down a few basic details of how U.S. Special Forces learn to "modify the behavior of various foreign target audiences and in a variety of environments,"as the Sept. 26 award describes the process of scientifically manipulating human emotion.