WHERE SHOULD WE BURY THE CHILDREN?

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Submitted Date 10/25/2018
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International Children’s Day is celebrated on October 1. Parents, teachers, and governments around the world celebrate it with enthusiasm and conviction. In Central America, it is practically a holiday.

It is usually one of the best days in our Guatemalan children’s mission. But this year, our festivities got off to a slow and somber start. Two of our children showed up with their older sister and tears in their eyes.

It seems their older brother Edgar, 18 years old, was dying in the city trauma center. He had been shot in the abdomen by gang members and the rounds exploded, literally gutting him.

Edgar was a wide-eyed, curly-haired graduate of our mission. He is the fourth child from our feeding program to be shot in the five years I’ve been here. The others were aged 13, 7, and 4. 

Edgar in happier times We let the children talk about guns, strangers in the neighborhood, and how anxious they get when a family member goes out at night. We learned how they see their parents’ visceral reaction to the sound of gunshots and it scares them. There were tears in many eyes and bravado in a few.

All I could think about was how I needed to get them out of here. I’d love to bring each one to New Jersey and let them enjoy their younger years in safety with clean air, police to protect them, good schools, and everything else I took for granted growing up.

Yeah… I’d walk them across Mexico to save their lives.

It’s not migration, it is an escape

One of the stupidest things I’ve heard over the years is how Central American immigrants come to the United States illegally only to steal benefits and take whatever they can get from our country’s compassionate and human rights-based organizations and rules.

Most of the folks espousing such garbage are ignorant to what life is like in the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.

Some might have visited Antigua or other heavily protected tourist areas and gone home thinking how beautiful and wonderful our countries are.

Visiting missionaries ask me why people want to leave such a beautiful country when everyone appears so happy. They have no idea what these people’s lives are like when dozens of Americans and their security team aren’t in town. They are oblivious to the Salvatrucha and MS-13 markings around them.

Some Americans remind us there is a legal way to come into the United States. Unfortunately, that is like playing the lottery. Embassy officials working with visa applications are not tasked with helping immigrants enter the country. Their role is to say “No” as much as possible.

My Guatemalan-born, missionary wife was denied seven times before our engagement led someone to finally award her a visa. That was despite dozens of US-based supporters, churches, and organizations providing documents of support and guarantees of her return.

What if she was being pursued by extortionists or had a gang threatening her? What if cartels took over her business? What if someone was threatening her child?

At what point would you expect her to give up on legal immigration and jump on a bus for the border? What else would you expect her to do?

The day we become victims of extortion or have our daughter targeted by gangs for “membership” will be the day our mission closes and we move back to New Jersey. It is a legitimate concern of ours. We keep a few dollars and our passports at the ready. But millions of Guatemalan citizens don’t have that option.

Who is escaping?

Gangs and cartels prey upon the most vulnerable. I am constantly amazed at how extortionists go after the poorest of the poor instead of entering better-off neighborhoods. It seems counter-intuitive until you realize the plight of their targets.

They can’t afford to leave. Many will try, which means abandoning their only asset- property that might have been in their families for generations- to start over.

Starting over in Guatemala is not easy. There are very few jobs. A move to the city will require rent payments or the mercy of a family member or friend. It might be easier to find a job if you are among the small percentage of rural Guatemalans who finished high school.

Moving to another rural area brings its own risks. Trying to get by selling food or crafts will likely bring a response from established businesses already struggling to survive. There are no real jobs in rural areas.

Moving away does not necessarily protect you. Newcomers stand out. The reach of gangs and cartels, most of which are not Guatemalan-based, extends across the country. They will check out where you came from and find out if you “owe” anything to the gang.

Their reach extends into parts of Mexico and all parts of the Northern Triangle. Successful escape entails leaving for places like Costa Rica, Panama, and the United States. Nicaragua used to be a popular place to look for domestic work, but the deteriorating situation there is now too dangerous to consider.

Coyotes

Life in Guatemala is difficult, to begin with. The government is corrupt and leaves most of its citizens vulnerable to gangs and cartels. The army and militarized police force are woefully underpaid and underequipped. This makes many of them reliant on gangs and cartels.

The gangs are merciless. When one of our feeding program kids died a few years ago, a collector showed up to take all the money that was collected to help bury her child.

She was then told she had to pay a weekly sum to the gang or they would take her son. He was 12 at the time. If she sent the son away, they would burn her home with her in it and eventually find the son.

What was she supposed to do? The family snuck away under cover of darkness with the help of a neighbor. But the only place far away enough would be out of the country. So, she sought out a coyote.

Coyotes are people who get paid to escort and assist migrants to reach the United States. Their work is not guaranteed, but it is costly. She would need $8000 to pay the coyote.

Of course, she didn’t have that kind of money, but that was no problem. The coyote directed her to a financier. A kindly woman paid the coyote. The mother would owe $12,000 over the next two years, “easily payable when she has an American job.”

Unfortunately, the woman and her son were captured shortly after arriving in Texas. They pled their case and asked for asylum. They were denied and shipped back.

They were flown to Guatemala and given enough money to grab a taxi. The first person they saw when they arrived was the financier. The mother still owed $12,000 and the first payment was due.

The kindly woman wound up being the wife of one of the gang leaders. I honestly have no idea where either the mother or son is today.

Caravans

Stories like that are plentiful as are stories of coyotes delivering their customers to human traffickers. Most migrants will be assaulted and robbed during the journey. Rape and torture are common.

But with no work, no food, and living under the threat of death, people are desperate to get out. Someone theorized there was safety in numbers. Forget about expensive and unreliable coyotes and band together.

More than 1,000 people left Southern Mexico together last year to make the long trek north to the United States. The group largely broke up, with many settling in Mexico and others splitting off to try other crossings.

Hundreds made it to the border where US authorities decided they could only let 30 per day come in. Most were returned to their homes anyway.

But the situation in Honduras was bad enough for a few hundred folks to decide they would walk together to the United States earlier this month. Word leaked out about their journey.

By the time they crossed into Guatemala, they numbered in the thousands. It was another thousand or so higher by the time they got to Mexico.

Local residents helped as much as they could with food, clothes, and baby supplies. When the group got to the city of Chichicastenango, someone came forth with cash and handed out 20 quetzals (about $2.50) to as many walkers as he could.

People support the marchers because they know each of us is a simple circumstance away from joining them in their exodus. They applaud the bravery involved in the migrants’ effort to lead their children to safety.

The USA doesn’t want them… but they keep encouraging them to leave

The United States still has an exorbitant amount of influence in Central American politics. Why not? For a fraction of what the US pays to support Israel or Egypt, US politicians can practically buy a country’s government.

Guatemala‘s president, Jimmy Morales, was elected because he was supposed to be an outsider, but it turns out he wasn’t just backed by former military generals, he is their puppet.

Morales promised to extend the charter of a UN-funded anti-corruption commission and said he was determined to root out criminals from the government. His tune changed when the commission started looking at Morales’ finances.

Morales recently announced he would cancel the commission’s charter as dozens of stern-faced military officers stood behind him. While he made his case, he ordered a caravan of armored military vehicles with machine guns to park in front of the commission’s headquarters.

Furthermore, he had the caravan appear in front of the embassies of Mexico and the United States for some reason.

The US Embassy immediately chastised Morales for using US-provided military equipment for a purpose it was not intended for, and also for violating the peace accords by bringing troops onto the capital city streets. They also expressed firm support for the UN’s anti-corruption commission.

Then, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the country’s UN ambassador, Nikki Haley each muttered something about supporting Guatemalan sovereignty and downplayed the incident.

The signal to the people of Guatemala is clear. After decades of supporting military leaders who massacred thousands of indigenous citizens, the USA would again back a criminal president over the people.

Jimmy Morales will get rid of the anti-corruption commission with the support (or non-protest) of the United States, throwing Guatemala back into the 1980s. There will be even more violence and crime. It’s time to leave.

Is it all about violence?

Violence and the threat of violence is the main driver of emigration from Guatemala. There is no government effort to stop or control the issue. In fact, they support cartels and corporations over their own citizens on a regular basis.

Environmental activists get killed with impunity while the president orders the national police to take up positions with security forces of the Canadian and US mining and energy interests killing much of our natural ecosystems.

Farmers are forced off land they owned for generations because palm cartels need more space or because drug dealers need another airfield.

The government’s tepid response to the thousands of dead and missing indigenous victims of Volcano Fuego was the final straw for some folks. They decided to resettle in the USA.

Drought and blight along with artificially low international coffee prices will put thousands of pickers and workers out of a job.

National healthcare is in a crisis. While the country’s president is flying to Israel and the United States to complain about the United Nations, the national hospitals are bankrupt. There is no medicine or other supplies. Doctors and nurses are going unpaid. Patients are dying.

What to do?

When you see that a dam is leaking, you don’t build a wall downstream and hope it is strong enough to stop the water. You repair the dam.

If the United States put a quarter of what they invest in a typical middle-eastern country into Central America or half the price of Donald Trump’s wall, the immigration crisis could end in a few years.

Allowing corruption and paybacks to continue without repercussions only cracks the dam wider. It will take more than a wall and a big mouth to stem the flow of immigrants. Guatemalans need a reason to stay.

Don’t send arms and money. Send police to build up and train new municipal police forces to keep the peace and investigate crimes.

Take advantage of Guatemala’s willing workforce and dual coasts to create distribution and transportation companies.

Encourage NGOs to invest in schools and hospitals.

American officials must stop coddling corrupt government officials and continue supporting the UN commission and the Guatemalan people protesting against the president’s government and corruption.

Ignoring Central American problems will guarantee a continued flow of immigrants to the United States. Because when parents assess the situation, it comes down to one thing; do they want to bury their child in Central America... or take a chance on finding a longer life elsewhere? 

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  • Miranda Fotia 5 years ago

    Great article! Very thorough! Thanks for sharing!