I can only note with horror that Joe Biden is spinning an Administration plan to turn its attention to Central America. Say it ain't so Joe! Not that tired trope again!
The United States' preoccupation with wars of empire in west and central Asia over that last 15 years has allowed our southern neighbors to get on with developing their own governments and resources. By and large, they are one hell of lot more peaceful and their people live significantly better than back when when Ronnie Reagan and the Reps were obsessing over the red tide rising south of the border, threatening to overrun Harlingen, TX.
Having seen our butts kicked further afield, Joe seems to be promoting a turn to afflict the south again. He's offering to help with "security," with policing. Last time around that meant death squads in El Salvador and genocide against the native population in Guatemala.
He wants to encourage "transparent and fair" legal systems. Hey, we could do with a little of that here at home: how about stopping with the leak prosecutions, reining in the NSA spooks, and prosecuting US war criminals responsible of torture and aggressive war in the last decade? That would encourage lawfulness elsewhere.
He wants Central American economies to attract international investment. Curious. Last I noticed they had. The cash (and the risk taking) are just not coming from the United States. Nicaragua found a Chinese backer for its alternative to the Panama Canal. The project may be an ecological and human disaster, but hey, it's their disaster.
If we want to help Central America, we can stop being a market for drugs. The drug war is a sickness here that fuels many horrors for the neighbors.
3 comments:
The military-industrial complex is pushing for more sales. Ugh.
It depends on how we help. Definitely dealing with a realistic drug policy here would be a start. But Guatamala and Nicaragua are not doing okay in terms of violence. Read up on their cities. We had friends on an education tour down there in '13, and they had to have police escorts in some areas. The reason some of the kids were being sent up here was due to the drug gangs and violence. Same problem in Mexico. It all depends on where you live as to how safe it is! So it would depend on what he means by help. Our past efforts haven't helped. But when you end up with that much violence on your borders, it can't really be ignored. And the drug cartels are ruthless.
Well said,Jan. We need to butt out and stay out,because everything we do make things worse.
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