Clinton's Kodak moment in Central America
By
Teresa Gutierrez
In February the U.S. Army's Delta Force-- a
counter-terrorism unit from Fort Bragg, N.C.--carried out a
routine practice mission in south Texas near the U.S.-Mexico
border. That exercise should be kept in mind in relation to
President Bill Clinton's recent trip to Central America.
Throughout Clinton's trip, the U.S. government proclaimed
the visit "a neighborly show of compassion, solidarity and
assistance." White House spokespeople said there is an entirely
new security relationship between the United States and Central
America.
The March 10 New York Times echoed this view: "No longer are
thousands of American soldiers and covert agents engaged in
not-so-secret wars on leftist insurgents." Rather, according to
the Times, they are "social workers in fatigues, clearing
highways, providing shelter and immunizing children."
Despite this propaganda, the truth is that Clinton traveled
to the region with the blood of Central Americans on his hands.
The legacy of imperialist domination and repression lives
on.
It is a slap in the face of workers and oppressed to portray
the military as "social workers"--especially after Washington
was recently exposed as having helped carry out the massacre of
200,000 Guatemalans during the 1980s.
Moreover, the bloody hands of the imperialists are not idle.
They are ever ready to carry out further atrocities.
That is why the military continues its practice exercises
along the U.S./Mexican border. Not to fight drugs, as Clinton
claims--but to be combat-ready to quell any disturbance from
the Latin American masses when they rise.
Come see the softer side
of imperialism
Clinton's trip to Central America took place against the
backdrop of the devastating effects left by Hurricane Mitch,
which ravaged the area last November.
More than 10,000 people were killed. Two million were
displaced in Honduras alone. Huge areas of cultivated fields
and tons of crops were destroyed.
Bridges and roads were swept away. There was an estimated
$10 billion in infrastructure damage.
The destructiveness of Hurricane Mitch had absolutely no
precedent in the entire history of Central America.
But what has brought much more destruction is the
decades-long policies of U.S. imperialism.
The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have
demanded that oppressed nations restructure their econ omies.
The objective is to maximize benefits for foreign
investors.
These structural adjustment policies--SAPs--have resulted in
conditions that have wreaked havoc on the people.
Entire local enterprises have been destroyed. Unemployment
has risen dramatically. Wages have fallen significantly and the
gap between rich and poor has widened.
Food production has declined and essential public spending
has been cut. Many governments have been forced to privatize
their basic resources, including social services as well as
industries.
More than three-quarters of the people in the area lived in
poverty even before the hurricane. In Nicaragua alone, half
were unemployed. Cuts and the privatization of services
weakened rural health care. As a result of inadequate
environmental controls, deforestation is a huge issue.
Therefore, when a hurricane sweeps the area, because the
governments are in the pockets of the imperialists, the
devastation is worse.
According to the Development Group for Alternative Policies,
a mainstream think tank, deforestation made the flooding from
the hurricane more catastrophic.
The inadequate health-care system led to more cholera and
malaria. In Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital, 50,000 children
were exposed to malaria in less than a month after the
hurricane hit. Dysentery and diarrhea are the leading causes of
death for children under 5.
You need only compare this with what happened in Cuba--where
the revolution threw out the IMF long ago. Cuba suffered much
less hurricane destruction than other countries. Not because
the hurricane was not severe, but because the government took
every precaution it could to defend the entire population.
U.S. owes Central America
Clinton made many sorrowful statements during his trip. Many
a Kodak moment was staged, including one in Nicaragua at the
cremation site of a little girl.
But Washington owes Central America more than crocodile
tears. It owes more than the $420 million the administration
has proposed to help in the reconstruction--and which may never
get past Congress. It is a drop in the bucket for what is
needed to begin the repair. Much more was spent to support the
repressive forces against the mass struggles during the 1970s
and 1980s.
That's why Clinton's trip to Central America means nothing
in the face of the deteriorating conditions. If his trip really
was about "solidarity and assistance," as the White House
claimed, he would cancel the foreign debt--the principal and
interest--these nations owe the IMF.
Nicaragua's debt, for example, is six times its total
exports and nine times the income the government generates
through taxes. One-third of the government's income goes to pay
interest on the debt. The imperialist banks always take out
much more than they ever put in. Cancel that debt and money
would be available to rebuild the nation.
The next thing the U.S. government should do is decree a
complete and unconditional amnesty for the thousands of Central
American political and economic refugees currently living in
the United States.
Finally, the U.S. did admit that the Guatemalan Historical
Clarification Commission was right: Washington was involved in
supporting the right wing as it carried out massacre after
massacre, primarily against Indigenous people. While in Central
America, Clinton acknowledged the U.S. role during the bloody
period of the 1970s and 1980s.
But he wanted to quickly bury the issue. The White House
said circumstances had changed and "the president has made a
point to ensure that mistakes of the past and policy of the
past will not be repeated."
This is a total lie. The torture "School of the Americas" is
still operating at Fort Bragg. The CIA and all the other
political police that work for the banks and corporations are
as active and well funded as ever.
U.S. imperialism can only sustain itself through economic
and military domination. That's the meaning of the troop
exercises on the Mexican border.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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