Yes, it is HUNGER. Yes, it is POVERTY. Yes, it is LACK OF OPPORTUNITY.
It is all of those things but, no, that is not enough. THERE IS MUCH MORE — CAUSED BY THE UNITED STATES.
The UNITED STATES does not have a moral right to deny asylum to those trying to escape violence and social chaos that WE CAUSED.
It is absurd that the United States turns away those seeking asylum as refugees from Central America following the long history of ACTIONS BY THE UNITED STATES that DESTABILIZED the region and CAUSED THE TURMOIL that the refugees are now fleeing from.
Ronald Reagan was the leading cause of the turmoil now seen in Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras.
Guatemala and El Salvador — the CIA has long history of destabilization especially during the Reagan Administration. Reagan supported the military government and right wing extremists in El Salvador against the FMLN (Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front, a coalition of five left wing organizations). In Guatemala, Reagan provided arms to right-wing strongman José Efraín Ríos Montt, despite CIA warnings of Montt’s record of genocidal massacres against indigenous Mayans (for which he was later convicted of genocide).
Many of the refugees coming now are from those many persecuted Mayan villages, and many do not even speak Spanish, much less English, which is why they rarely get interviewed by bilingual [English/Spanish] reporters; seven-year-old Jakelin Caal Maquín, who died in Border Patrol custody, was from an indigenous Mayan community.
Nicaragua and Honduras — Reagan destabilized the elected Sandinistas in Nicaragua to support the right wing Contras (including selling arms to Ayatollah Khomeini to finance the illegal acts for which many (including Oliver North) were convicted. Many (not including North, whose case was vacated on appeal) were but later pardoned by Bush Sr.
WE BROKE IT. We have no moral right to deny asylum to those fleeing that violence that WE CAUSED.
Yes, it is HUNGER. Yes, it is POVERTY. Yes, it is LACK OF OPPORTUNITY.
It is all of those things but, no, that is not enough. THERE IS MUCH MORE — CAUSED BY THE UNITED STATES.
The UNITED STATES does not have a moral right to deny asylum to those trying to escape violence and social chaos that WE CAUSED.
It is absurd that the United States turns away those seeking asylum as refugees from Central America following the long history of ACTIONS BY THE UNITED STATES that DESTABILIZED the region and CAUSED THE TURMOIL that the refugees are now fleeing from.
Ronald Reagan was the leading cause of the turmoil now seen in Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras.
Guatemala and El Salvador — the CIA has long history of destabilization especially during the Reagan Administration. Reagan supported the military government and right wing extremists in El Salvador against the FMLN (Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front, a coalition of five left wing organizations). In Guatemala, Reagan provided arms to right-wing strongman José Efraín Ríos Montt, despite CIA warnings of Montt’s record of genocidal massacres against indigenous Mayans (for which he was later convicted of genocide).
Many of the refugees coming now are from those many persecuted Mayan villages, and many do not even speak Spanish, much less English, which is why they rarely get interviewed by bilingual [English/Spanish] reporters; seven-year-old Jakelin Caal Maquín, who died in Border Patrol custody, was from an indigenous Mayan community.
Nicaragua and Honduras — Reagan destabilized the elected Sandinistas in Nicaragua to support the right wing Contras (including selling arms to Ayatollah Khomeini to finance the illegal acts for which many (including Oliver North) were convicted. Many (not including North, whose case was vacated on appeal) were but later pardoned by Bush Sr.
WE BROKE IT. We have no moral right to deny asylum to those fleeing that violence that WE CAUSED.