A History of Violence In Central America

A History of Violence

 

            Reflecting on a History of Violence by Oscar Martinez is a great book about the history of Central America and its violence nature, how did it start and where do we go from here. The Central American countries of El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala has some of the highest rates of homicides in the world, with El Salvador being the most violent out of the 3 countries. The violence and crushing poverty led to thousands fleeing their homeland every day desperate to enter the United States. The effects of climate change have brought devastating droughts to the region. Moreover, the Obama Administration has deported thousands of illegal aliens who belong to some of these violent gangs back to their homelands. These gangs go back into their countries and are causing violence and terror among the inhabitants. Running drug smuggling gangs from the cities to the rural villages. The conditions of violence, climate change, and corrupt politicians make the area unlivable. Thus, is the reason why we see thousands trying to escape in the masses, trying to make it to “paradise.”

            The war on drugs doesn’t seem to be working, we have been fighting this war since Nixon was in office; where has it got us today? From the French Connection to the Mexican Cartels; it does not seem to go anywhere; the drug business just gets replaced and more sophisticated where the groups become more difficult to detect.

            Yes, I believe America should help because it will help us solve many other issues like illegal-immigration, drugs, and poverty back in Central America where the inhabitants don’t have to flee their homelands. It will become a livable economy again, such as the countries like Panama, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua. The United States has to fix what it caused in Central America, not turn their backs on the region. Our government should help eradicate the criminals, this is the best interest for the United States in solving the hundreds and thousands of people behind the border trying to get it. Why are they trying to come here so disparately? As the saying goes, “We are here because you were there.” The United States should backtrack and reimage how did we get here, how can we help the problem, and what is the solution? The solution is to fix what you caused in Central America during the 1980s during the Cold-War. The U.S. sponsored war in the region, no different from Afghanistan. This is the Cold War coming back from the dead and haunting the United States. So, we did not win the war after all, because Karma is real, and what we see today is evident to that.

Martinez writes that the violence there is so terrible, that it is beyond fixable. You can just imagine how bad it is for him to relate the region to beyond repair. However, the discussion should be off the table. The repairing is very fixable if the United States takes interest in reconstructing the region. Individually, we can do what we can to help but this “help” is limited. What we can do as grassroots is bring the attention to the United States, to congress. Just like the “War on Terror,” take out the bad government and replace it with a good one. I believe that is the best solution. It is just like giving homeless people food. You can give them food but how are they going to help themselves tomorrow? We have to work as a country and build a solution.

 

 

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