It is no secret that Central America is characterised by violent gangs, as a result of the various wars that have taken place in the region since 1980, stemming from the ideological conflicts that played out in the Cold War between the communist and capitalist blocs as a regional theatre of war.
President Bernardo Arévalo reported at a press conference, in response to the ‘state of siege’ that was declared in Guatemala, that this is part of the country’s current political environment. Unfortunately, Guatemala is also plagued by gang crime. I believe that they should adapt the formula of El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele to their country. I am not saying that they should copy and paste it as it is, but it is imperative that they adopt a security structure similar to that of their Salvadoran counterpart.
The other problem Guatemala has is its narco-culture, due to its proximity to Mexico. Although it is true that Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo is trying to rebuild or fix the situation in Guatemala — unlike his Mexican counterpart Sheinbaum — this is not a minor issue, nor is it one that can be quickly resolved. In Mexico, President Claudia Sheinbaum has an excessively lax stance towards drug traffickers, offering them guarantees of their human rights, but acting in a less than vigorous manner towards the real victims of the cartels in the relevant states in her country.
I believe it would be more than sensible to set up a national cooperation committee between Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras to replicate the model of El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele and try to adapt El Salvador’s anti-gang model to Honduras and Guatemala. At this point, it is not possible to include Nicaragua, because unless Donald Trump intervenes to overthrow and expel Ortega, I very much doubt that there will be a real regime change in Nicaragua.
Unfortunately, there is no optimistic opening for social transformation towards a civil and peaceful society in Guatemala. President Bernardo Arévalo finds in his political opponents the same reasons for opposition that existed in El Salvador with the old guard of political brontosaurs. It is imperative that the United States of America strengthen its relations with the Northern Triangle on security and immigration issues.
The issue of immigration and its distorted and inhumane narratives focus on the export of criminals to the United States of America. Absolutely not. There are mostly multifactorial aspects, and while it is true that this was the Republicans’ campaign platform, that does not mean that all Hispanics, and specifically all Central Americans, are criminals. In fact, there is a solid policy framework in place to tackle gangs and drug trafficking in Central America, and hopefully the Republicans will remember that in the future.
Consequently, a Republican politician in the United States should not spend his time claiming that the southern border is open and that immigrants are pouring in, when in reality the countries of Central America — with the exception of Nicaragua — are trying to eradicate internal crime so that the United States of America can sleep peacefully. And no, it is not an exaggeration. In fact, if the United States of America stopped treating Latin America as its ‘backyard’ and chose instead to help the region liberate each state that has been involuntarily and fatally ‘co-opted’ by the gang virus, there would be more humane and civilised immigration.
Finally, this reminds me of a sensitive and humane statement by Krish O’mara Vignarajah, president and chief executive officer of Global Refuge: ‘We welcome refugees, not because they are Americans, but because we are Americans.’
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