Washington, Opportunism and Naivete

The opportunists, who always seek to take advantage of foreign misfortune and all who believe that one must only shake a stick in order to reap a reward, are disconcerted because the presidents of Central America’s Northern Triangle did not return home with their suitcases full of dollars after meeting with Obama in the U.S. capital. The presidents of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala were not going to negotiate for benefits aside from the disgraceful immigration situation. The purpose of the meeting was to seek agreement in order to look ahead in the same direction and, from there, to develop proposals that allow a uniform response to the causes of displacement in the deprived populations of Central America, the poorest and the ones suffering the most. To reach that goal, the four leaders must assume shared responsibility — it cannot be any other way — for the increase in the immigration of minors from the Northern Triangle, impoverished and insecure in Central America, who seek refuge and secure prosperity in the United States.

What complicates the arguments further is that the problem of abrupt, disorderly and illegal immigration of Central Americans toward the United States was not caused by this country. The governments, societies and businesses of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras hold the primary responsibility, even if one accepts that the worsening situation is aggravated by the rise of street gangs and the subsequent atmosphere of insecurity and violence that they produce in weak states that cannot enforce law and order. It is the responsibility of the political regimes that claim to represent the interests of the affected population. Furthermore, an analysis of the situation does not pass the smell test because the facts confirm that a desperate population emigrates in search of better opportunities. And they do so in the direction of the United States, and not toward Cuba — where there is more security, for example — because in the United States there are opportunities for employment, liberty and security that will allow one to achieve one’s goals. The United States is responsible for this immigration phenomenon, but not only for the success it has achieved. The United States is also responsible for the high consumption of drugs, for which there is an increasing demand and which has converted Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala into obligatory checkpoints for drugs in order to protect the well-being and the concepts of liberty that the United States maintains. It is imperative, however, to recognize that the prosperity of the United States came first and the drugs second. It therefore appears naïve and delusional to attempt to blame the United States simply because its rich development attracts our emigrants, whose homelands have not been able to provide much satisfaction, or to request money from the United States so that the Northern Triangle can continue to allow policies and businesses that perpetuate poverty and permit Central American countries to keep turning their backs on their obligations.

For American analysts, things are very clear. There must be development in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala so that the search for the “American dream” does not conflict with Mexico’s insecurity, nor with the rigidity of American legislation. To achieve this, there is no need to wait for the United States to design for us a “Plan Central America ” that we finance generously and that in the end achieves what the people of these three nations have irresponsibly failed to do. Instead of lamenting that our leaders returned with empty hands, we must demonstrate emotional independence, superior creativity and special responsibility by designing our own plans. And if we cannot find the necessary local resources ourselves, only then should we seek assistance from other countries. To continue believing that we must only run crying to the gringos and return with fists full of dollars is an opportunistic and irresponsible formula that, in Washington, they reject and despise. What must be done, once Obama has accepted the idea of shared responsibility, is to design plans for security, development and democratic consolidation. Afterwards, cooperation and support can be sought, but without the opportunism of those who believe that the gringos will violate their own laws for us. In this manner, the indolence of the ruling classes and of irresponsible economics will be suppressed.