We Supported Their Dictators - Central America edition
Victoria Sanford has an op-ed on We Supported Their Dictators, Led the Failed ‘War on Drugs’ and Now Deny Them Refuge for Moyers & Company.
Two more comments on the op-ed. First, Victoria writes "In 12 years, the Salvadoran army would kill more than 75,000 civilians..." From my understanding, approximately 75,000 Salvadorans died during the war, with 8,000-10,000 disappeared. The disappeared are thought to be added to the 75,000 estimated killed (so 85-90,000 deaths). The 75,000 includes soldiers from the FMLN and the military, as well as civilians (government officials, civilians, and non-combatant supporters of the guerrillas - all civilians). We don't know for sure but the 75,000 isn't just civilians. Seligson and McElhinny (1996) estimated 55,000 civilian deaths and 33,000 combatant deaths between 1979-1991. If there's a better source, please let me know.
Second, Victoria writes "In 2013 alone, over 900,000 Guatemalans migrated to the US together with 500,000 Hondurans and 1.2 million Salvadorans." These numbers appear to be estimates, rounded down, for all Central Americans residing in the US in 2013. They do not reflect the number of migrants who arrived in the US in "2013 alone."
Either way, these comments do not take away from her argument. The US was responsible for helping create the conditions which are forcing people to flee.
President Donald Trump has tied his executive order giving Congress six months to “fix” DACA to constructing a wall between the US and Mexico as well as a rapid and massive deportation of unaccompanied children and families entering the US without a visa.
Trump claims this will stop Central American and other undocumented immigrants from entering the United States. These policies might make it more difficult, but they will not stop the flow of migration because the United States is not the pull factor of migration. Violence in Central American countries is the push factor today, just as it was in the late 20th century.
For much of the 20th century, the US has made strategic decisions that have brought great harm to Central Americans — siding with dictators in the 1980s as our Cold War proxy to “fight communism,” and siding with corrupt national governments in the 21st century to “fight drug traffickers.”For much of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, the US and its Central American neighbors have jointly produced the conditions that have forced many to flee the region. The solution to our joint challenges require cooperation and long-term strategic planning and execution (Should the US deport unaccompanied minors?). However, it's hard to envision us succeeding within the current political environment (U.S. Can’t Solve Central America’s Problems With Money Alone).
Two more comments on the op-ed. First, Victoria writes "In 12 years, the Salvadoran army would kill more than 75,000 civilians..." From my understanding, approximately 75,000 Salvadorans died during the war, with 8,000-10,000 disappeared. The disappeared are thought to be added to the 75,000 estimated killed (so 85-90,000 deaths). The 75,000 includes soldiers from the FMLN and the military, as well as civilians (government officials, civilians, and non-combatant supporters of the guerrillas - all civilians). We don't know for sure but the 75,000 isn't just civilians. Seligson and McElhinny (1996) estimated 55,000 civilian deaths and 33,000 combatant deaths between 1979-1991. If there's a better source, please let me know.
Second, Victoria writes "In 2013 alone, over 900,000 Guatemalans migrated to the US together with 500,000 Hondurans and 1.2 million Salvadorans." These numbers appear to be estimates, rounded down, for all Central Americans residing in the US in 2013. They do not reflect the number of migrants who arrived in the US in "2013 alone."
Either way, these comments do not take away from her argument. The US was responsible for helping create the conditions which are forcing people to flee.
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