In the last decade, the expansion of oil palm plantations and sugarcane production for ethanol in northern Guatemala has displaced hundreds of Maya-Q´eqchi´ peasant families, increasing poverty, hunger, unemployment and landlessness in the region, according to a new Food First report by Alberto Alfonso-Fradejas, “Sons and Daughters of the Earth: Indigenous Communities and Land Grabs in Guatemala.”
If they board a bus, undocumented migrants in Mexico can be pulled off and deported by soldiers at numerous checkpoints dotting northern-bound highways. Without paperwork, they can’t make it past the airport service counter. So the train remains the most accessible means of transport for Hondurans, Guatemalans, Salvadorans, Nicaraguans, and others hoping against hope to make it to the US. And the most deadly.
President Obama touched down in Mexico and then flew to Costa Rica in a short trip with ambitious goals. The president sought to re-set the image of U.S. involvement in the region by downplaying the increasingly controversial drug war that is currently the focus of U.S. aid and engagement, instead highlighting trade and integration.
“Our organizations have documented an alarming increase in violence and human rights violations. While we recognize that transnational crime and drug-trafficking play a role in this violence, we call on our governments to acknowledge that failed security policies that have militarized citizen security have only exacerbated the problem, and are directly contributing to increased human suffering in the region.”
The visit of Obama to Costa Rica to attend the meeting of the Central American Integration System (SICA, by its Spanish initials) was nothing more than a smokescreen for anything but the SICA meeting. There was never any intention of holding a real SICA meeting.
The court’s decision openly violates legal precepts and demonstrates the lack of independence of the court to the powerful economic and political groups. Nonetheless, the genocide trial opened a window to justice and truth–the fundamental bases for building peace.
For now, hawk talk is being toned down dramatically in response to Latin American pressure and grisly evidence of the Drug War’s failures. As for Cuba, Obama will have to move toward better relations over the fierce opposition of Cuba Lobby hard-liners, like Miami Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.
