How Wiarda Got Human Rights Wrong

This article critiques Howard J. Wiarda’s assumptions about U.S. foreign policy and the promotion of human rights and democracy. Focusing on pieces that Wiarda wrote in 1982, 1991, and 1997, it emphasizes the continuity in Wiarda’s skepticism that the United States could or should more aggressively promote human rights in Latin America. I criticize this analysis as being out of touch with the degree of support that U.S. foreign policy gave to human rights–abusing regimes in the region and with the level of domestic support for democracy and human rights there.