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Christy Turlington- Fellow Salvadoran

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Support for Central America

At the conference being held in Guatemala, the World Bank announced that they will put up $1 Billion dollars to combating the violence that has so plagued Central American and that has made it into one of the most violent regions in the world. This certainly signals a shift in the way the international community has responded to the crisis but the money will have to be used in a productive way, not just be spent on militarizing these nations further. Hopefully this will be a “made in Central America” solution whereby the officials of these nations with thorough consultation from civil society actors, academics and the populace in general come up with effective strategies to address the urgent issues. It will certainly not be an easy task and my hope is that the money will not aggravate the situation.

  First of all the youth of Central America must be brought into the dialogue, they must be active participants. Many youth get sucked into a life of crime because of few options available for them to get a good job or go to school and establish a long term career. The problem of corruption in state institutions is also an important area that has hindered efforts and a problem that will be very challenging to confront because it is very systemic. I find very encouraging the prospect of judicial training proposed by the U.S because this is an institution that historically has been very weak in Central America. The criminal justice system is horribly unreliable and not trusted by many people.

 It is my hope that with this announcement officials in Central America will step up and come up with comprehensive strategies to address the prevalence of violence but also that these issues have deep roots in these societies and that far more than money will be needed if a real impact is to be made. The will power is needed among all sectors of society and the realization that there will be no “quick fixes” to such a complex set of problems. The nations will have to work together along with the U.S as a mutual partner and as well as international organizations and regular meetings as the one in Guatemala will be needed because this is a region wide problem that transcends borders.

A better way

Immigration is a touchy topic especially in the United States where 
policy makers have been afraid to address the issue in any concrete 
manner. However beyond the politics the true scope of the problem 
should be seen from migrants themselves. There is no question that 
there is a crisis. Thousands of people a day attempt to get to the 
United States and there are millions of undocumented people living 
within the nation. A large cargo truck was found in Guatemala a few 
weeks back with more than 500 people crammed in the truck, they were 
mostly from Guatemala and some from El Salvador. This is sadly just
one example of the lengths people  go through to try to make it to the United States.
 Drug Cartels and  criminals are raking in for certain millions of dollars from desperate 
people who pour their savings and borrowed money into trying to pay 
human smugglers to take them over the border.

   Documentaries and movies like Sin Nombre show the perilous journeys 
that migrants undertake to try to escape their unstable homelands. 
Throughout their journey in Central America and Mexico they encounter 
corrupt officials, cartels and gangs that threaten them and take 
whatever they have. Attempts have been made to try to address 
treatment of Central American migrants by Mexican officials but little 
action has been taken. Mexico itself is fighting a war with the drug 
cartels that has claimed tens of thousands of lives and these cartels 
are working all throughout Central America. The constant state of 
conflict throughout the region feeds into the immigration and gang 
problem that is being experienced.

   A truly comprehensive strategy is the only way that all these 
issues can be addressed. The United states must work with Mexico, and 
the nations of Central America and Mexico must work with its Central 
American neighbors in issues regarding drugs, weapons and immigration 
policies. These are regionwide problems that can only be effectively addressed
in a comprehensive manner and this will certainly take a lot of will and time. There
are no easy fixes and throwing that army or police at the problem will not make it
better.

Allende

 Officials in Chile exhumed Salvador Allende’s body in an attempt to discover the truth about his death. If it is found out that Allende was murdered the impact of such a revelation would be tremendous, it would change the political and social landscape of  Chile. For people who have studied the coup and the mystery surrounding the events of September 11 1973 such news would not be a surprise. Chile is still a nation coming to grips with the coup and the military dictatorship that followed, the wounds are not healed and the revelation that Allende was murdered would bring up more issues and perhaps more divisions. For many countries in Latin America that underwent military coups and dictatorships it has been a struggle to reconcile with the past. In nations like Argentina, Uruguay, and El Salvador the military personnel have been given amnesty from being persecuted for human rights violations seemingly in an attempt to appease these powerful institutions. In Chile the process has been difficult to persecute military and government officials because of laws that Pinochet put in place on top of making himself a “senator for life.”

  There is no question that if it comes to light with certainty that Allende was indeed
murdered the problem remains as to what would happen next? Would there be a thorough
non-partisan investigation just to find out the facts or would there be a formal criminal
investigation where the purpose would be to find the guilty party and bring them to
justice. With the last option it would open out a huge set of problems because there
would be many people involved not just the person who fired the gun. Finally, would the
Chilean people actually want this? Do they want to continue to relive the pain; do they
want to know the truth, even if it may change they perspective.

 Chile has been going through a process of reconciliation and remembrance as a way to
deal with the Pinochet era. By looking at Chile and other cases in Latin America we come to see how socieities deal with the past especially in the era of human rights. Hopefully the investigation into Allende's death can provide some answers but we will see how Chileans respond.

Central America

Troubling news came out of the news cycle concerning El Salvador. Reportedly some soldiers were caught trying to sell grenades to gang members, there seems to be a troubling continuum in the uptake of violence in the gang crisis gripping Central America of which this is an example. This region has seen decades of civil war, strife, violence, but why? Why is this region (in particular Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua) so punished to a never ending cycle of violence? I will try not to generalize with the rest of Latin America but it is certainly important to point out some threads that reach through history into our current times.
  Inequality is certain a large part of the equation. From the start the Spaniards came to conquer and take the wealth of the Americas, they created very unequal systems of rule which was very hierarchical and static. Land was monopolized in the hands of a few and the majority of the population (mostly of mixed race, indigenous, and African) were violently suppressed. Even after they gained independence these systems of rule remained largely intact. Revolutions were attempted by the masses and a few in the middle class people but were suppressed by the militaries. Some basic structures of democratic institutions like voting were put in place but were seen as largely illegitimate by the masses because they were corrupted by the elites. The 1980's saw the outbreak of civil wars except in Honduras but civil strife still bubbled, in Nicaragua the rebels succeeded in overthrowing a dictatorship but they had to contend with a war by the U.S backed contra. El Salvador and Guatemala went through years of civil war that saw tens of thousands of lives killed. These nations are still contending with their histories and issues yet to be resolved.
 When we read or hear stories of the shocking brutality occurring in Central America we have to remember the context and the histories through which these nations have struggled to over come.