Central America: No Right TO Grow Old

CENTRAL AMERICA

No Right to Grow Old

Migrants have many reasons for making the long trek to the United States from Central American countries like Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua.

Poverty, crime and corruption, for example, are endemic in the Honduran city of San Pedro Sula. One the most violent cities in the world, it faces 142 homicides for every 100,000 people, NPR reported.

“The right to grow old has been destroyed,” photojournalist Tomas Ayuso told the public radio network. “One has to fight for their right to grow old, either by migrating out of the country or enlisting in a gang for protection. But it’s not a given.”

Those living in rural Honduran communities, like the Garifuna minority descended from African slaves and indigenous groups, find themselves driven off their land by gangs and palm oil companies, said Reuters.

In El Salvador, a drought is threatening the food security of half the country, adding to strains on an economy already struggling with low growth, high debt and high crime.

So when Salvadoran leaders decided recently to sever ties with Taiwan and establish diplomatic relations with China, hopes of attracting investment and boosting the economy were clearly part of the motivation.

The move rankled American leaders, who viewed it as unwelcome Chinese meddling in the Western Hemisphere, the New York Times wrote. The United States government might even cut off vital aid to the country as a result. But Fitch Solutions, a newsletter published by the Fitch Ratings agency, said China would likely invest mightily in El Salvador as a result of the decision.

Meanwhile, a budding rebellion in Nicaragua could trigger a new wave of migrants to the US border, warned the Conversation.

Citizens have risen up against authoritarian President Daniel Ortega, who oversees a corrupt regime that seems only to benefit his wife, Rosario Murillo, who happens also be his vice president, and members of his Sandinista party.

Ortega has cracked down in response. The New Yorker described an interview with men in ski masks who toted guns in the western Nicaraguan city of Masaya. They insisted they weren’t police officers or members of the military but rather were law-abiding citizens seeking to cleanse the city of terrorists. There’s another word for such bands of armed men: death squads.

Some call the immigration situation in the US an emergency. The many crises in Central America are a catastrophe.