Empty headed politicians are either ignorant or intellectually dishonest in what they spout about the border mess. Washington played a major role in creating the humanitarian crisis.
During the 1980s much of Central America was engulfed in armed conflict that pitted rebels against murderous military regimes. Washington nurtured the conflict with lavish aid to the repressive governments that routinely slaughtered civilians. Between 1981 and 1988, the U.S. provided more than $6.5 billion in military and economic aid to Central America’s regimes. The conflicts sparked the initial exodus of Central American refugees. More recently, from 2016 to 2019, Washington aid to the region totaled just $2.5 billion.
In my book, “We Were Always Here: A Mexican American’s Odyssey,” I recount my reporting in the region as a Time correspondent. Guatemala’s war was exceptionally brutal. Here is an excerpt from my book:
The Ixil Maya people had borne the brunt of the savage counterinsurgency campaigns begun under the rule of Gen. Efrain Ríos Montt. His government determined that many Ixil were EGP (a guerrilla organization) supporters. In response, starting July 8, 1982, the government launched “Operation Sofía,” in which the 1st Battalion of the
Guatemalan Airborne Troops was ordered to exterminate so-called subversive elements in El Quiché. There was no apparent effort to selectively murder civilians; it was ethnic cleansing.
Even before Operation Sofía, the genocide was underway.
In April of 1982—close to the time I reported on the Guatemalan refugees in the Chiapas jungle—there were 3,300 civilians killed, according to the Guatemala-based International Human Rights Center. During the Ríos Montt period, which spanned 1982 and 1983, government troops had already killed as many as 75,000, mostly within the first eight months between April and November 1982.
President Reagan admired the dictator, whom he met. Complaining that Ríos Montt was “getting a bum rap on human rights,” Reagan called him “a man of great personal integrity,” adding that Ríos Montt advocated for social justice. “My administration will do all it can to support his progressive efforts.”
Ricardo Chavira Chicano 