{"id":10757,"date":"2014-07-14T13:32:09","date_gmt":"2014-07-14T18:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/panamaadvisoryinternationalgroup.com\/blog\/?p=10757"},"modified":"2014-07-14T13:32:09","modified_gmt":"2014-07-14T18:32:09","slug":"a-crisis-in-central-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/panamaadvisoryinternationalgroup.com\/blog\/a-crisis-in-central-america\/","title":{"rendered":"A crisis in Central America"},"content":{"rendered":"

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When you understand the governments lack of control over gangs and crime in the Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador you will be able to better understand why people are fleeing their homelands for the United States.\u00a0 It is no longer just about better opportunities, now it is about personal safety for ones self and ones family.\u00a0 We need to be focusing our efforts on our borders and on efforts to help our neighbors, not taking on battles in the middle east trying to solve problems that have existed there for centuries.<\/p>\n

By Michael D. Barnes1:05 p.m. EDT, July 8, 2014<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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A crisis of enormous economic and humanitarian impact is unfolding in Central America, and it’s hard to find much mention of it in our national media, other than constant references to a result of the crisis: tens of thousands of human beings, many of them unaccompanied children, trying desperately to enter our country illegally. They are attempting to escape the poverty, gang violence and drug wars raging in their home countries, and they are flooding our border and overwhelming our immigration authorities. More than 50,000 children have already arrived, most of them now detained in facilities along the border, and every indication is that this is simply the beginning.<\/p>\n

The White House<\/a> on Monday indicated that most of the arrivals will be deported home, without much discussion of the homes to which they’ll return. With the growing recognition of the importance of Hispanic influence in the United States, one might expect more attention would be paid to what’s happening in the countries from which this tidal wave is coming. But some things are slow to change. Latin America never seems to capture much of our national attention, unless war breaks out or a World Cup arrives in Brazil.<\/p>\n

Central America was a hot political issue in the 1980s, with civil wars and human rights concerns in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. President Ronald Reagan<\/a> gave nationally televised speeches and appointed a presidential commission, chaired by former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger<\/a>, to address the issues we faced. When those immediate challenges faded, however, so did our collective focus on events in what is sometimes called our “back yard” but really is our “front yard.”<\/p>\n

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