It's Our Fault

Okay, I don't want to beat this to death, but the social and economic dysfunction of the countries in Central America is in very large part our fault.  The United States has spent a century deposing their legitimate governments in order to replace them with brutal dictators, in order to advance the interests of US corporations.  Here, from an article in the Harvard Review of  Latin America is at least a partial list:

U.S. DIRECT INTERVENTIONS 
Military/CIA activity that changed governments
COUNTRY YEAR EVENT SUMMARY
Cuba 1898-1902 Spanish-American War
          1906-09 Ousts elected Pres. Palma; occupation regime
          1917-23 U.S. reoccupation, gradual withdrawal
Dominican Rep 1916-24 U.S. occupation
          1961 Assassination of Pres. Trujillo
          1965 U.S. Armed Forces occupy Sto Domingo
Grenada         1983 U.S. Armed Forces occupy island; oust government
Guatemala 1954 C.I.A.-organized armed force ousts Pres. Arbenz
Haiti 1915-34 U.S. occupation
          1994 U.S. troops restore constitutional government
Mexico         1914 Veracuz occupied; US allows rebels to buy arms
Nicaragua 1910 Troops to Corinto, Bluefields during revolt
          1912-25 U.S. occupation
          1926-33 U.S. occupation
          1981-90 Contra war; then support for opposition in election
Panama         1903-14 U.S. Troops secure protectorate, canal
          1989 U.S. Armed Forces occupy nation

U.S. INDIRECT INTERVENTION 
Government/regime changes in which U.S. is decisive
Bolivia 1944 Coup uprising overthrow Pres. Villaroel
          1963 Military coup ousts elected Pres. Paz Estenssoro
          1971 Military coup ousts Gen. Torres
Brazil 1964 Military coup ousts elected Pres. Goulart
Chile 1973 Coup ousts elected Pres. Allende.
          1989-90 Aid to anti-Pinochet opposition
Cuba 1933 U.S. abandons support for Pres. Machado
          1934 U.S. sponsors coup by Col. Batista to oust Pres. Grau
Dominican Rep. 1914 U.S. secures ouster of Gen. José Bordas
          1963 Coup ousts elected Pres. Bosch
El Salvador 1961 Coup ousts reformist civil-military junta
          1979 Coup ousts Gen. Humberto Romero
          1980 U.S. creates and aids new Christian Demo junta
Guatemala 1963 U.S. supports coup vs elected Pres. Ydígoras
          1982 U.S. supports coup vs Gen. Lucas García
          1983 U.S. supports coup vs Gen. Rios Montt
Guyana 1953 CIA aids strikes; Govt. is ousted
Honduras 1963 Military coups ousts elected Pres. Morales
Mexico         1913 U.S. Amb. H. L. Wilson organizes coup v Madero
Nicaragua 1909 Support for rebels vs Zelaya govt
          1979 U.S. pressures Pres. Somoza to leave
Panama         1941 U.S supports coup ousting elected Pres. Arias
          1949 U.S. supports coup ousting constitutional govt of VP Chanís
          1969 U.S. supports coup by Gen. Torrijos

And this is only a partial list- for example, it doesn't include the repeated attempts of the United States to sabotage the government of Venezuela politically and militarily, out of outrage that its leaders decided that Venezuela should use its vast oil resources for the benefit of its own people instead of turning them over to U. S. oil companies.

My point being, to end this and get out of here already, that if we are really being inundated by refugees from Latin America, it is our own God damned fault, and just maybe the answer to keeping their people at home is to stop reducing their countries to impoverished hellholes, in order to increase profits of corporations that have exactly zero interest in our welfare.

Comments

One Fly said…
That's a conversation that won't happen just like all the rest that need to happen. Russia messing with our election after the shit we do is pretty much fair game. Not doing something about after it becomes known is another matter entirely.
June 20, 2018 at 1:07 PM
Magpie said…
By all means "beat it to death"... Many of the foreign issues that ignorant people in rich countries see as threats are actually legacies of how those countries got to be rich.
June 21, 2018 at 6:39 AM
Jerry Critter said…
Now we are doing it to ourselves with the installation of Trump as our president and the republicans controlling Congress.
June 21, 2018 at 7:45 AM
Green Eagle said…
Well, okay, Green Eagle is pretty good at beating things to death. And this is certainly not a subject that has been beaten to death; like the monstrous aggressions in Vietnam and Iraq, it's been essentially written out of the American consciousness.
June 21, 2018 at 7:05 PM
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