Why are all these unaccompanied children coming to the United States from Central America? If you find yourself wanting to answer this question with some intelligence and history on your side, even if the person asking it doesn’t really care about intelligence or history, give this Huffington Post read a try, “Here’s How The U.S. Sparked A Refugee Crisis On The Border, In 8 Simple Steps.”
While the problem is sad and may seem complicated, the list is a reminder that when we value history and learning, the problem is insanely simple and the children are political pawns in a system that doesn’t care—on both sides of the border:
The 57,000 children from Central America who have streamed across the U.S.-Mexico border this year were driven in large part by the United States itself. While Democrats and Republicans have been pointing fingers at each other, in reality the current wave of migration from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras has its roots in six decades of U.S. policies carried out by members of both parties.
Since the 1950s, the U.S. has sown violence and instability in Central America. Decades of Cold War gamesmanship, together with the relentless global war on drugs, have left a legacy of chaos and brutality in these countries. In many parts of the region, civil society has given way to lawlessness. It’s these conditions the children are escaping.
This article appears in Jul 17-23, 2014.
I always suspected it was all our fault. Seriously though, it’s a good read. The US should butt out of Central American politics and end the drug war. We’re not the only problem in Latin America, but we could be part of the solution or at least stop making it worse.
Sure, blame America first. That’s the knee jerk response of progs to every issue and every crisis.
Why is it so hard to admit the National Security State has been involved in covert actions around the world to subvert democracy, suppress opposition, propping up dictators, etc.
Why is this so hard to own up to? True, its never been officially admitted, in fact its completely denied from CIA, et. al..
Is it because Mom and Dad, the pastor, the teacher, and the scoutmaster all assured us that the US was about promoting freedom and democracy globally?
They weren’t lying, they were telling the truth as they knew it, we know better now, its time to dismantle the security state.
Let’s just say it: the hillbillies in Langley DIDN’T make us safer, they made the mess we have today. We are old enough now to know the truth now, let’s stop living in the past
Here is another blog from the Huffington Post trying to appear to be a well thought out article about the involvement of the United States in Central America. Mrs. Herreras regurgitates this bias article as it should be believed our current illegal alien problem mostly our fault.
1954: US Overthrows Arbenz
The author tries to blame this solely on corporate interests, but the fact of the matter if because Arbenz was a self per-claimed Communist and this during the Cold War where the world witnessed Stalinism, with its missiles pointed at western Europe, with its slave nations behind Churchill’s “Iron Curtain” (remember the tanks rolling into Hungary and Czeckoslovakia?; with its constantly parading tanks, guns, and missiles (while USA parades at the time featured marching bands and pretty girls in convertibles); Maoists massacring and raping Maryknoll nuns–well, you get the picture. Communism was doing a lot more damage to post WW2 world than US did with its interventions.
The USSR and USA were in a heated Cold War to influence third world countries. The biggest threat was if the USSR was able to get allies in the Western Hemisphere. The dangers of this became a reality during the Cuban Missile Crisis. We were with in hours of destroying the world because Cuban allowed nuclear missiles to be 90 miles away from Florida. So, when Arbenz starting seeing red, we acted.
-U.S. Fuels Civil Wars
Again, FMNL was allied with Fidel Castro and were Communists. FMNL was one of many factions that were fighting in El Salvador. If you actually read the history of this country from 1930 to 1992. The US has a pretty small part in the overall instability of the country.
-The U.S. Launches The Drug War As Cities Are Hollowed Out/ The Drug War And Mass Incarceration Leads To A Rise Of Gang Violence
People can debate which drugs should be legal and which should stay illegal. However, the fact of the matter is if you know the drug is illegal, it is YOUR fault for getting arrested for it. Our immigration and drug policy did not create MS-13. MS-13 was created because Central Americans were being attacked by Mexican and African American gangs in LA. I agree going to prison often makes you a better criminal. However, what made these gangs become the organizations they are now is the economic conditions in our inner cities, lack of parental control, the US demand of illegal drugs.
-With Some Stability Restored, The U.S. Sends A Wave Of Gang Members Back To Central America
Yes, this was basically our fault. However, what should we do with illegal alien gang members? Let them walk around our cities, our neighborhoods, and our streets? I think most sensible people, even on the pro-amnesty side, would agree gang members should not be allowed to stay in our country.
– The U.S. Escalates The Drug War
The reason Mexican DTOs got more powerful was because we cut off sea routes for harder drugs coming from Columbia. Columbia DTOs now use (through the Mexican DTOs) land routes to come into the country.
The bigger issue is if we secured the border and stopped enough drugs from coming over the border (which if we decriminalized or made legal marijuana it would help focus on harder drugs), these cartels would lose influence in these countries.
– 2009: Another Coup
The Huffington Post does not even mention WHY the Honduran military took over power. President Manuel Zelaya wanted to change their constitution and proposed a ballot referendum to vote on it. The Surpreme Court ruled it illegal. Zelaya ignored that order and with the backing of Venezuela, tried to get illegal ballots to be used during the election. The military finally stepped in and arrested the President for violating the Supreme Court and basically not following the Constitution. This had NOTHING to do with the US. We did not back Zelaya because he was acting more like a dictator than a President. We took the side of Honduran Constitution.
The US does have some fault in this mess, but the idea to blame the US for everything wrong in this world is getting old. This is not a issue that can be solved by learning “8 simple reasons why we created this crisis.”
Although, the fact is children were NOT coming over in droves in 2011. We had only a few thousand children illegally cross into the US. Now we are on our way to 90,000 for this year alone. So, what happened in 2012 that would fuel over 90,000 children to cross into the US? On June 15, 2012, President Obama announced that his administration would stop deporting young illegal aliens who match certain criteria previously proposed under the DREAM ACT.
Well, maybe this crisis can be summed up by one simple fact…
So Mike, the National Security State made us safer?
And we shouldn’t question because gov’t knows what’s best for us?
Or people who like sausage shouldn’t see how it’s made?
Or we can’t discuss it because it never really happened?
If the CIA was a baseball team, what is their batting average?
Show me just one instance of US covert action having a long-term good in the world
P.S. with the exception of the Cuban missile crisis, the Cold war was a sham perpetrated by both sides, better to have the population fearful vs. questioning.
There is a Drug War because idiots in this country insist on taking drugs. When they do Cartels exist and people get killed in those countries. Why have there been a hundred thousand dead in Mexico.
The Progressive Liberal mindset thinks it’s OK to take drugs. It’s their right. Sure.The crime and problems it causes in this country is huge. The USA is the largest market for this crap.
I don’t think there would be the outrage about immigration if the people streaming in here were computer engineers who speak English or skilled factory workers who want to become US citizens. Or how about people who don’t create crime and don”t go on government assistance. That would be refreshing.
It’s also about the Hispanic-ization of the USA. Are we a better place for having millions of illegal aliens here. NO. By 2050 we will no be the same nation. Good luck with being a first class nation at that point.
Patriot I – I’ll bet YOUR knee-jerk response was to NOT read the article.
“P.S. with the exception of the Cuban missile crisis, the Cold war was a sham perpetrated by both sides, better to have the population fearful vs. questioning.”
Seriously? Why don’t you ask a person that was living east of the Iron Curtain if they felt like it was a “sham?” Why don’t you ask a resident of the former city of “East Berlin” if they felt all the guard towers, razor wire, and signs that states they would shoot a person trying to escape was a ¨sham?¨ I guess Peter Fechter should have realized the whole Berlin Wall was only a stunt to make it look like the Soviet Union has trying to take over countries by the spread of Communism. Maybe then the guards would have not shot him..
I never said we should not talk about if the actions of the US were justified during the Cold War. We should question our government and learn from our mistakes. However, the world is not black in white. Communism has killed over 100 million people in the last century, that includes about 100,000 in Cuba and Latin America. That is the problem with communist movements. They first start out as a people’s revolt against alleged oppressors, but then turns into attack against ANYONE that has property or wealth. People get thrown in jail, re-education camps, or buried in mass graves. That is the history of Communism in the 20 Century. Russia, China, Cuban, N. Korea, Vietnam, and other countries all shown that ultimate result of a Communist movement in a country would be mass killings and a enemy of the US.
That is what the US saw when they noticed a third world country movements towards Communism. A potential state that would be allied with USSR and still kill and suppress their people. So the sad reality was when the US had to decide on a brutal dictatorship that will suppress their people and a brutal Communist dictatorship that would kill and suppress their people. They picked the former.
I can not name “one” US covert action having a long term positive effect, I would say our overall actions of defeating Communism while not starting WW3 was a long term positive effect.
We can look back at Iran, Honduras, Guatemala, Iraq, etc and be a Monday morning quarterback. Where we see the overall effects in the decades after our intervention. However, during the time the US did not have that luxury. We were facing a ever growing threat from USSR, spread of Communism and nuclear war. You can scoff at this threat and disregard it. You have that luxury of not knowing what the effect would have been if we did not intervene in these places.
What was a sham was that the old Soviet Union was a credible nuclear threat, or that MAD was a credible deterrent, we used this sham to bankrupt our nation to benefit the military/industrial/congressional machine.
And on an historic note, the Soviet Union didn’t collapse because we were so adept at spreading democracy; it collapsed because they couldn’t make payroll anymore.
My point being we could have had healthcare, education and full employment if it were not for this perverse sham.
The Soviet Union had thousands of nuclear weapons aimed at our major cities. They (along with China) spread their horrible version of communism to hundreds of millions of people on this planet. Using the term “sham” is a slap in the face to the over hundred million people that were killed and the millions that were suppressed in these communist dictatorships.
We did not bankrupt our nation during the Cold War. Our National Debt was only about 3 trillion when the Soviet Union fell. If that is being bankrupt, what do you call our current state of our national debt?
We had a better state our health care system, education and better employment during the Cold War. The last 30 years of supply side, free trade, crony capitalism economics that cased our current state of our country. Those polices is a more appreciate use of the word “sham.”
The fall of the Soviet Union more complex than they just could make payroll. The end result was their country basically going bankrupt, but the factors that caused it (many which are attributed to US efforts) is far more complex.