When we first heard of Vice President Kamala Harris’ plan to tackle the “root causes” of migration in Central America and Mexico, we thought she might actually be interested in the history of the American Empire in the region. Rather than using her trip to Central America as a simple photo op, maybe she would recognize the The role of the United States in its troubled past and its reverberations in the present.
But, while we clap efforts to end human trafficking and curb corruption, does anyone think this addresses the root causes of immigration? Does anyone believe that promoting “economic development†by increasing the presence of foreign companies in Central America will slow immigration? Does anyone think that ruthlessly declaring “Don’t come†will improve the lot of potential migrants?
Rather than tackling the root causes, the US government keep seeing Central America as a source of cheap labor, an exporter of raw materials, and an investment opportunity for companies like Nestle. Yet Nestlé’s record in South Asia is just as deplorable as that of United Fruit Company in Central America. The two formed neocolonial relationships that enslaved local populations, generated racial and gender hierarchies, instigated coups and subverted democracy and sovereignty. Instead of straying from the past, Harris’ approach repeats it, empowering ruling elites and corporations to do whatever they want.
Migration networks from Mexico and Central America to the United States have emerged in parallel with the opening of American business operations in the region. These companies – the Rosario Mining Company in the 1850s, the United Fruit and Standard Fruit Company in the 1890s, the Cananea Mining Company in the 1900s – built “American zones”, introduced racially stratified working systems, and created second-class citizens. Extractive industries have taken over natural resources on indigenous and Afro-indigenous lands. Repression, disappearances, torture and murder of civilians and campesinos monitoring.
Harris did not visit Honduras or El Salvador, two countries from which thousands of people have fled in recent years. But, to this day, the United States is pouring money into “security” and economic initiatives that militarize the country and benefit only the rich. Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández’s corrupt and drug-related reign that devastated the country was made possible by a 2009 US-backed coup. El Salvador – led by Nayib Bukele, a neoliberal scornful of democracy – has yet to recover from the American intervention of the 1970s to the 1980s, which resulted in the murder of eighty thousand civilians and forced thousands of them. others to flee.
The idea that forced migration can now be slowed down by opening a Nestlé factory or allowing investors to build so-called free trade zones or promoting another extractive industry assumes that this has always been a good model for America. central. No matter how much he dresses in the beneficent politics of the Democrats, that is still not the answer.
Harris is correct that “most people don’t want to leave the houseâ€. But recycling the policies of the past without addressing the root causes of the crisis in Central America and Mexico ensures that people will continue to come to the United States in desperation.
We don’t need more covert actions and coups. We don’t need more election intervention or support for narco-dictators or militarized drug wars. We must, as Ella Baker has already encouraged us, tackle and understand the root cause. And it starts with the American Empire.