I work within my Municipality's external funding division so I always receive information on the latest state and federal grants that are available to the United States and its territories. Ever once and a while a headline such as the following will catch my attention:

"Building Stronger and More Representative Political Parties in Peru"

A "Democratic Initiative", this fund of $2,400,000 will go towards a "Foreign Assistance" program for the above cause. Obviously this fund isn't meant to be invested in the current political parties, considering the fact that both the ruling party and the primary opposition party are of the political left. The primary pro-U.S. party is a sad sight; loosing in the first round of the most recent elections.

Not too long ago U.S. initiatives were put into place in an attempt to consolidate Nicaragua's right-wing parties in order to defeat leftist Daniel Ortega. Documents obtained from the Freedom of Information Act in 2004 showed that $5 million was given annually from USAID to organizations in Venezuela, most notably to the anti-Chavez organization Sumate. These examples are peanuts when compared to the bloody coups, contra wars, puppet states, and invasions, but they are far from kind efforts to spread democracy.

It's no surprise that the U.S. is not happy with Peru's political parties, but should it even have a say so? Chavez is often blasted for using his nation's oil wealth for international social programs, but USAID can openly intervene in a sovereign nation's partisan politics?