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Wednesday, December 26th, 2018

Fleeing a hell the US helped create: why Central Americans journey north

Author:     Julian Borger
Source:     The Guardian (U.K.)
Publication Date:     Wed 19 Dec 2018 03.00 EST
 Link: Fleeing a hell the US helped create: why Central Americans journey north
Stephan:   I find in conversation with almost every American with whom I speak that they do not understand or even know the role America played in creating the conditions in Central America that have led to refugees fleeing their countries and trying to come to the United States. So here's a little background. In the new year we need to go into the streets to demonstrate against what the government is doing. The only thing that changes government policies is the concerted intention acted upon by masses of Americans that change must occur, and be life-affirming.

Central America’s inequality and violence, in which the US has long played a role, is driving people to leave their homes.
Credit: Carlos García Rawlins/Reuters

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Jakelin Caal Maquín, the seven-year-old Guatemalan girl who died this month in US custody, is the latest victim of a long, dysfunctional relationship between the US and its southern neighbours that has cost countless lives over the past half-century.

The forces driving ordinary people to leave their homes and put their lives at risk crossing deserts with smugglers to get to the US border are deeply rooted in Central America’s history of inequality and violence, in which the US has long played a defining role.

The flow of migrants trying to cross the border illegally is not all blowback from US foreign policy. Much of the poverty, injustice and murder in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras is homegrown, harking back to the age of Spanish conquest. Small criminal elites have long prospered at the […]

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