Mouriño on Mérida Conditions: No Sir!

Secretary of Governance Juan Camilo Mouriño rejected proposed conditions on the Mérida Initiative. Anyone who's read about or remembers the annual acrimony that surrounded the congressional certification of other nations' anti-drug policies in the '90s would probably acknowledge that tying the money to certain measures of progress or to extraditions is not a good idea. This points to a dilemma that is probably inseparable from the provision of foreign aid: as the giving nation, to what extant can you control the money without provoking resentment?

I remember reading someone describe it like this: imagine your parents didn't have the means, and a neighbor spotted you the cost of college, but you had to study accounting. And now imagine that the neighbor couldn't stop talking about. He'd constantly remind you of his generosity, he'd needle your parents about their inability to provide for you, he'd mention it in his Christmas cards, and he'd bring it up in wedding toasts. You'd probably hate the guy before too long. At a certain point, you'd tell the neighbor to take his money and go to hell.

Throw issues of national pride into the mix, and it gets even dicier. But at the same time, surely the United States should have some input over how the billions of its taxpayers' dollars are being spent. I don't know what the answer is.