Mexico: American Imperialism, Immigration, and Politics

I'm a peace loving man but for the last month I have been engaged in a war here in Chiapa de Corzo. Violence isn't always the answer but when my home is under attack I believe I have a right to defend myself. These last four weeks I have broken the enemy lines time and again, sent them into retreat, only to see they have re-established themselves a few hours later with others taking up the positions of their fallen comrades. I feel like a German trying to capture Soviet Leningrad. For those who haven't figured it out yet, my enemies are hormigas, ants, and they have had free reign over the kitchen in my house since I first arrived in January. In February I began my campaign to liberate the kitchen. This was organic warfare - I littered their trails with cinnamon, directly sprayed them with vinegar, flooded them with peppermint water. Hundreds perished. My family joined me sporadically with the use of chemical weapons such as raid and a plug in device that emits a continual stream of a substance to keep the ants at bay. But alas on the first day of March I acquiesced and officially ceded the domain of the kitchen to the six legged invaders who simply reappeared despite my "victories" in battle. The irony is that killing the ants did not end the ant problem. They simply came back stronger and in greater numbers because the ants were merely a symptom of a larger problem; that problem being us and our kitchen. Dirty dishes, sweet drinks left out overnight, and food waste in the garbage; these were the real problems, the real enemy. We wastefully spent our time fighting the ants and cursing them when we should have been looking at ourselves and our own behavior that led to them being there in the first place. The reason I share this experience with you is because I feel that my story with the ants is extremely relevant to nearly every political issue of our time. We have leaders in Washington who are promising us solutions to complicated problems which in many cases are actually more harmful than doing nothing at all and completely ignore the causes. They are telling us to build a bigger wall to prevent illegal immigration, to carpet bomb Syria to prevent the spread of ISIS, to cut welfare benefits to balance the budget, to continue handing out harsh sentences for drug offenses to prevent addiction and drug use, to tighten sanctions and embargo countries to bring about human rights and government reform, and to overthrow governments in order to bring about democracy and stability. The solution to every problem lies in it's root causes. It's all about the why? In this entry I want to look at a controversial issue, one that's very near and dear given my current location; illegal immigration and the Hispanic population in the USA.

         For those people out there who say that illegal immigrants are people who rape and kill, steal jobs from American citizens, or at the very least are a burden to the welfare and healthcare system please read on or share the following information because if you knew why "illegals" came here you wouldn't be so quick to make assumptions and judge their actions. For those who are on the fence (ha) or are already sympathetic to the plight of illegal immigrants I hope to lay down some knowledge to embolden your views and perhaps talk to some of the people from the first sentence above. For those concerned with their property values and the neighborhood going to hell because of all the black and brown people moving in you need to wake up to the times, open your mind, and open your doors and actually get to know the people you are so afraid of. Legal or illegal by the end of this century the majority of the people living in the United States will trace their roots not to Europe but to Latin America. We are going to experience a dramatic change in the composition of our nation in the coming decades and that in and of itself is not a problem; however, there will be a problem and there will be conflict between these shifting ethnic and racial groups if ignorance and fear is chosen over reason and truth. So when it comes to illegal and legal immigration and the surging Hispanic population what is the root cause of this huge migration? While many want to point to a lax border, free handouts, and a wall that's not big enough, US Foreign and Economic Policy has been the direct cause of both legal and illegal immigration from Latin America over the last century. The truth is that it is the countries in which the US has intervened in militarily and economically that boast the most immigrants to the United States; countries like Puerto Rico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, and Mexico.

          Much like the lies that are taught to us about Christopher Columbus (in that he is called a noble explorer who discovered the New World and is given a national holiday rather than labeled the genocidal sociopath that he was) the US education system has failed to educate the American people about the actions of it's government in Latin America during the 1900s. In fact every US History course I have taken from elementary school all the way up through college has failed to ever shed light on America's dark past in the Western Hemisphere. We are told, even as adults, that the United States was always the good guy, liberating countries, spreading democracy, and fostering peace. To even question the notion that the United States is the freest and most just country in the world is seen as treasonous in the eyes of many. However, armed with the Monroe Doctrine, the spirit of Manifest Destiny, the Roosevelt Corollary, and Dollar Diplomacy the United States destabilized peaceful democracies and brought war upon a number of countries in order to gain political and economic influence and expand it's empire south. While the troops on the ground who would go on to commit atrocities and war crimes against their people were not American they were trained, armed, and funded directly by our government with orders from Congress and the Commander in Chief. Nearly every president in the 20th Century took part in overthrowing a peacefully elected democratic government in Latin America in order to install a puppet dictatorship that was more conducive to American markets and American foreign policy.

   Guatemala, 1951, Jacobo Arbenz is elected president of the country as a progressive ex- military commander eager to alleviate the poverty and suffering of his people. At the time of his election an elite 2% of Guatemalan society owned more than 75% of the land and wealth and had close ties with American big business like the United Fruit Company. Arbenz's first action is land reform and the redistribution of acreage to individual families in order to end the "slavery" of his people. He then began to improve infrastructure and construct new Guatemalan railways and ports since the entire country's transportation system was owned by the United Fruit Company. By 1952 Eisenhower had approved a CIA backed plan to remove Arbenz and replace him with a military regime that would protect the economic interests of the United Fruit Company and other American investments. In 1954 the coup took place, progressives and Arbenz supporters fled to the mountains for safety and enlisted the help of the indigenous communities to take back their country, and for the next forty years a series of conservative military dictators backed by the United States wage war on the people of Guatemala. Death squads armed and trained by the CIA massacre entire villages of women and children in the countryside that are suspected of aiding the Arbenz rebels. Local leaders, scholars, students, journalists, and critics of the Guatemalan government are executed under suspicion of treason. The rest of the world condemns the actions of Guatemala's military for committing genocide against the Mayan population during the civil war and for widespread human rights violations against it's civilians but the US aid continued. At the war's end in 1996, over 200,000 civilians are dead or missing, 80% of them are native Mayans. In the midst of this 40 years of chaos only 2% of Guatemalans seeking refuge are granted legal asylum in the United States. Thousands flee to Mexico and the United States illegally for protection.

            Nicaragua, 1933, the United States ends a 20 year occupation of Nicaragua and backs the puppet government of the Somoza family who go on to rule the country until 1979. During this time the Somoza's rule with an iron fist and continue to fatten their bank accounts having universal control of the banks, ports, news outlets, and manufacturing industries as well as continue to allow American companies to exploit Nicaraguan gold, rubber, and timber. A coalition of anti-Somoza movements come together to oust the family from power. After a 20 year struggle the Nicaraguan revolution comes to an end with the Somoza family fleeing to Miami and the Sandanistas, a left leaning youth and student group, taking control of the country. The Sandanista's quickly implement the following; nationalization of property owned by the

Somozas and their supporters; land reform; improved rural and urban working conditions; free unionization for all workers, both urban and rural; price fixing for commodities of basic necessity; improved public services, housing conditions, education; abolition of torture, political assassination and the death penalty; protection of democratic liberties; equality for women; and a non-aligned foreign policy. After two years of peace in Nicaragua President Ronald Reagan authorized the CIA to begin funding, arming, and training rebels, most of whom were remnants of Somoza's National Guard, to retake the country and implement a government more conducive to American business and foreign policy. When the US Congress deems support for these rebels, called the Contras, as illegal, Reagan ignores American and International law by selling arms to Iran and rerouting the money through a third party to continue to fund the Contras. In Nicaragua the Contras begin executing young people in every town. The Sandanistas begin drafting these same young people to fight the Contras. Given the level of violence young people begin fleeing to Mexico and the United States seeking political asylum. When the war ends ten years later there are over 50,000 people left dead.

              El Salvador, 1979, a few families making up 2% of the population own 95% of the wealth of the country. As the people become more restless the government is forced to become more violent to retain control. Finally, the military turns on the newly "elected" president in favor of military control of the country. The United States, led by President Jimmy Carter, sees an opportunity to gain a new ally in the region having just lost control of Nicaragua and begins funding, arming, and training the El Salvadoran military and its leaders. Left wing guerrilla groups join together and attempt to take away control of the government from the military dictatorship sparking a civil war in 1980. The El Salvadoran military targets civilian populations, raping, torturing, and massacring thousands in order to eradicate any possible base of support for the guerrilla movement. In the midst of this death and war Archbishop Oscar Romero, the leader of the Catholic church in El Salvador, pleads with President Jimmy Carter to cut funding for the military that is committing genocide against it's own people. Carter continues his funding. Romero targets his message directly to the soldiers in the El Salvadoran military calling for them to lay down their weapons and to stop murdering their fellow countrymen. The next day he is gunned down during Mass by members of the El Salvadoran military. During his funeral procession the military opens fire on peaceful mourners killing and injuring hundreds of civilians. Carter responds by doubling the amount of aid to the El Salvadoran military and gifting helicopters and grenades for their war effort against the guerrillas. Nine months later members of this same military raped and killed four American nuns who were in El Salvador attempting to provide relief to victims of the military's death squads. Carter penalizes El Salvador by cutting off funding for six weeks. Three years into the fighting the guerrillas call for a peace settlement and new elections. President Reagan sees it as a communist trap and calls for the fighting to continue. Ten more years of war and genocide would leave 75,000 people dead and more than 1 million displaced. Many fled to the United States illegally in an attempt to escape the violence.  

Cuba, 1898, the United States invades the island and claims "independence" for Cuba from Spain but retains economic and military control over the country via the Platt Amendment. US companies take control over a majority of the Cuban sugar industry and begin grooming General Fulgencio Batista as their chosen leader. When democratic elections yield a different leader the US backs a military coup making Batista the ruler of the country. Batista rules for 29 years with an iron fist neglecting the needs of his people with the full support of the United States. As his secret police force brutalizes the population groups of dissenters band together to overthrow the authoritarian ruler. After a six year struggle, Batista is finally ousted, and a socialist state with revolutionary hero Fidel Castro at its head is established in 1959. The new government implements land reform and nationalizes the sugar industry stripping the American sugar companies of their land holdings. Castro also implements other progressive reforms in education, healthcare, and literacy for the population. A year into his rule Castro becomes paranoid and begins exiling and executing Batista sympathizers and others who question his leadership. Many Cubans flee to the United States for fear of being purged as non-socialists. In 1980 Castro declares that any Cubans who wish to leave for political or economic reasons may do so in safety. The United States accepts nearly 125,000 Cuban immigrants in a 12 month period.  

          

The Dominican Republic, 1961, General Rafael Trujillo has mercilessly ruled the country for the last 31 years. Backed by the United States, Trujillo protects US sugar companies by torturing and killing labor organizers and becomes one of the richest men in the world through his efforts. Trujillo orders the ethnic cleansing of all Haitians living in the Dominican Republic; 35,000 Haitians are massacred in a six day period. He becomes so barbaric towards the Haitian people and his own that the United States supports his assassination. However, a left leaning democratic reformer, Juan Bosch, is chosen by the people in the ensuing elections after Trujillo's death. Concerned that Bosch may end American business interests and side with Cuba, Lyndon Johnson sends the Marines to the Dominican in order to bring "stability." The US calls for new elections and backs Trujillo's former right hand man, Joaquin Balaguer, who easily wins the elections after intimidating, torturing, and executing Bosch's supporters. Balaguer would go on to continue Trujillo's policies for another twelve years, killing over 10,000 political dissidents during this time. The US allows Bosch supporters and other rebels to immigrate to the United States in order to end the fighting and provide a safe environment for American business on the island; over 200,000 make the move from 1980 to 1990.  

           Puerto Rico, 1898, after taking the country from Spain in the Spanish American War the United States remains heavily involved in Puerto Rican affairs as US companies take control of the country's sugar industry. As the US prepares to enter WWI, US citizenship is imposed on the Puerto Rican people so that over 20,000 Puerto Ricans can be drafted and sent to the front lines of the European theater. Spanish is outlawed in the courts and schools and Puerto Ricans are systematically stripped of their language and culture. As WWII approaches 65,000 Puerto Rican men are drafted to fight the Germans. Those who aren't drafted are recruited to move to the United States to fill the vacancies in the factories in the North East region of the States. Although having served their country and played a vital role in the war effort at home Puerto Ricans are met with racism and discrimination at the wars end. There are currently more Puerto Ricans living in the States than on the island of Puerto Rico; 5 million compared to 3.5 million.

        

Mexico, 1847, eager to gain more land in the West and expand the power of the slave holding South President Polk orders American troops to enter disputed territory along the Mexican American border where they are subsequently fired upon by the Mexican military. Using this "ambush of American troops" along with other propaganda and fear mongering Polk convinces Congress to go to war. In a little over a year the US has taken most of the major ports and cities of Mexico including Mexico City, and Mexico has no choice but to give into American demands. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is signed in 1848 ceding 55% of Mexico's territory to the US including California, Utah, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona. Over 75,000 Mexicans living in these territories are crossed by the new political boundary and now live in the United States. As settlers and industry populate the new frontier there is a shortage of labor for the railway and Mexicans are sought and recruited as workers. By 1930 over 2 million Mexicans are living in the United States. When the Great Depression hits suddenly these same laborers that were just recruited become the enemy. With orders by President Hoover, over 1 million Mexicans are forcibly deported back across the border, 60% of whom were American citizens who traced their lineage to the United States before it had even become a country. A decade later during WWII, there is a shortage of European immigrants so the Bracero program is introduced to recruit hundreds of thousands of Mexicans to work in the factories and fields and aid in the war effort at home. This pattern continues to this day. We are two countries with one economy. Mexico serves as a reserve labor force in good economic times and as an expendable one during the bad. The passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994 allowed commerce to cross borders but not people. Many will tout NAFTA as an enormous success as can be seen by the rising GDPs

of the countries involved; however, while it has been successful for the big companies it has not been for the common man, on either side of the border. Here in the States we have seen millions of blue collar manufacturing jobs that provided a living wage be outsourced to Mexico and other foreign countries where workers are being paid substandard wages for the same work. Mexican farmers are also not able to compete with the US agricultural industry that is heavily subsidized by American taxpayers and have had their jobs and their way of life destroyed; leaving many with no choice but to head north across the border in search of a new life in the States.  

         The notion that illegals are criminals who are seeking out white suburban housewives to rape and kill is a fiction created by people to legitimize their xenophobia. The truth is that the overwhelming majority of illegal immigrants have historically been and continue to be refugees who are simply trying to escape the political violence and economic desert of their homelands. "That's all well and good but we have a legal system in place for those individuals to enter the United States and become US citizens," you say. Well if you're village is being raided by death squads and you've just watched your neighbors and parents get executed you probably don't have the time or the means to file paperwork with the US embassy and await their response. As far as attempts to gain legal citizenship, the United States is currently 20 years behind on their paperwork. That's correct, right now we are currently processing the applications of those people who applied in 1995 to gain legal US citizenship. People who are fearing for their lives or who are starving due to poverty don't have twenty years. Political asylum and refugee status? Well yes that should be the answer for the individuals our government helped displace but given the United States' current thoughts on refugees, that should shed some light on just how effective this route was for the people of Latin America. Becoming a refugee involves a bureaucratic labyrinth of paperwork, references, and interviews with the ideal scenario taking 18 months for you to gain refugee status and be accepted into the States.  And that's also if you're one of the 2-5% of applicants that actually gets accepted. Once again you simply don't have that luxury if you're country is being torn apart by a savage dictator funded by the world's most powerful country. If you want to protect your family or your children your only option is to flee, legally or illegally, to another country.

         The decision to leave one's country is not an easy one. People don't want to leave their homes, their communities, their families, their language, their culture if they don't have to. Many who fled illegally did so believing they would be able to return to their countries after the violence had passed; they thought their stay in the States was temporary and would only last a few months. When those civil wars and economic depressions lasted decades many had no choice but to lay down roots and being building a future here on American soil. It's safe to say people don't want to be strangers in a new land where they don't speak the language and are met with discrimination; becoming estranged from the land and the people that they loved, stuck in this limbo of identity. Combine this emotional pain of being ripped away from everything that you value in your life with the danger of making the journey and you know that people who are trying to enter the United States illegally are doing so as a last resort out of sheer desperation. More people die every summer trying to cross the wall between the US and Mexico than died the entire 27 year existence of the Berlin Wall that separated East and West Germany. Crossing the border historically was never a safe undertaking but with Bill Clinton's implementation of Operation Gatekeeper back in the 90's illegal immigrants now have to take even riskier routes through the barren deserts to make it across. Sure it's making entering the States more difficult but it's also leading to more deaths. Roughly 500 people have died each year crossing the border since 2000; however, those numbers only come from the bodies that are recovered so the numbers may very well be even higher. Enrique Morones, the founder of Border Angels (an organization that drops water in the desert for those trying to cross), says that the largest mass grave in the United States has nothing to do with military battles or war, it is the cemetery of Holtville California and it is filled with the bodies of hundreds of unknown illegal immigrants who died trying to enter the United States.        

           So in order to prevent illegal immigration we need to just build a bigger wall right? Well if the ant metaphor still isn't sticking and you skipped the last eight paragraphs the solution to this issue lies in the root causes. Why are people leaving their homes and coming here in the first place? We need to look at the actions of our own country and the influence our policies have had on the governments and economies of Latin American nations. Repealing NAFTA or at least amending it to demand living wages and environmental standards would take money away from these huge corporations and give it back to the people and feed the local economies that every day are losing ground to chain stores that don't keep money in the community. Buying electronics, clothing, and even food might cost a bit more without free trade but if it means that my neighbor won't be out of work or that my rivers and lakes won't have chemicals dumped in them I'm willing to front the extra cash. All NAFTA has done is increase the competition between American, Canadian, and Mexican workers forcing them into worse and worse working conditions for less and less money. Competition, while necessary, when taken to the extreme simply encourages companies to cut corners to increase profits for shareholders at the expense of workers, consumers, and the general population. Next, we can grant full autonomy to these countries and support actual democracy by recognizing their elected leaders, even if they are self proclaimed socialists. Just think of what we could have accomplished if we had invested those billions of dollars on education, infrastructure, and industry in Latin America rather than on bombs and arms used by militant dictators to destroy their countries and murder their people. If we had taken different routes in recognizing the sovereignty of these nations and let them be at peace or actually helped them attain their goals of independence and economic stability there never would have been the war and chaos that forced millions to enter the US illegally. Because of the actions of our government these countries are still politically, economically, and emotionally recovering from their civil wars and the rule of those dictators. These wounds are still fresh but we continue to still meddle in their affairs.

      You might be saying Steven, all of these examples you gave, those were different times. The United States was engaged in a very delicate game of political chess against other, much worse, empires. It was vital to our national security to take those actions; sacrifices have to be made for the greater good. Did you expect us to allow these countries to join the Soviet Bloc and tilt the scales in favor of the Reds during the Cold War? If we hadn't done what we did, Red Dawn wouldn't have been a horrible 1984 action film featuring Patrick Swayze and Charlie Sheen, it very well could have been our reality. Well as much as I disagree with all those statements and possible scenarios, I still have to ask, if it was about the red scare and communism why we are continuing the same policies today? Remember the 2002 failed military coup against Hugo Chavez in Venezuela? Nope, neither do I. It's probably because I was eleven years old oh and also because the US has tried to distance itself and deny any involvement in the failed coup, hmmm remind you of Bay of Pigs Invasion much? The National Endowment for Democracy, a nonprofit agency created and financed by Congress, donated nearly 900,000 dollars to Chavez's opposition for "party building" and "democracy promotion" in the months leading up to the coup. There's also the fact that Bush was never shy about verbalizing his disdain for Chavez because he was a "socialist" aka he wouldn't open up Venezuelan crude oil to American companies (oh and he revolutionized Venezuelan society by providing bricks so every Venezuelan family could have a home, handed out bread so people were no longer going hungry, created a system for universal healthcare, implemented land reform to break up the 3% of society that owned 77% of the land, oh and he paid for it all by nationalizing his countries oil industry and demanding greater oil prices from the States). We hear Chavez and we think dictator. At least that's what I had always thought until I actually read up on the guy; crazy what watching Fox News and CNN can do to a person. Then there's also the fact that the Bush administration immediately endorsed the new Venezuelan government under businessman and oil executive Pedro Carmona hours after the hostile takeover (unfortunately for Carmona the people rose up, pressured the military to free Chavez, and the coup was put down in less than 48 hours). Luckily for the States Chavez died of cancer a few years back at the early age of 58.

           Okay but that was Bush and Cheney. Surely Barrack Obama and Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would never be involved in the overthrow of democratic governments in Latin America. Well remember the 2009 military coup in Honduras. Nope me neither, and at the age of seventeen believe me I was into politics, keeping tabs on international and domestic news almost daily, although my sources back then were, that's right you guessed it; Fox, CNN, and MSNBC. Given their connections to the ruling elites of course those news sources don't want to tell you about how a democratically elected moderate president trying to bring stability and progress to a country mired in poverty and violence was overthrown in a coup with the help of a military led by Brigadier General Romeo Vasquez Velasquez who was a lap dog for the United States. There's also the wikileaks documents that show the State Department was discussing the legality and options available for removing President Manuel Zelaya from office months before the coup. Even without the military connections or the documents proving the US was involved before the coup, the State Department led by Hillary Clinton, recognized the illegal government that took the place of the democratically elected government of Zelaya against the wishes of the European Union, the Organization of American States, the United Nations, oh and the people of Honduras who had elected him into office and continued to support him after his removal. Instead what the people of Honduras have gotten is a series of authoritarian "elected presidents" that have discontinued civil liberties such as freedom of transit and due process, implemented curfews, taken part in forced disappearances and extrajudicial executions of journalists, political dissidents, and social and environmental activists. Authoritarian leaders that Obama has continued to support financially over the last six years despite the atrocities they have committed against their people. And then readers could you imagine my surprise when literally while I was writing this piece I saw on the news that the most outspoken environmental and social activist in Honduras, Berta Caceres, was assassinated, presumably by forces tied to the government. So there you have it folks, it's 2016 and we're still doing the same thing.

http://thetruenews.info/2016/03/05/us-contribution-death-honduran-activist-goes-unmentioned-us-coverage/

            If everything I have already told you isn't sticking I have one more piece of evidence that confirms the truths I am laying out before you. The Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC) formerly known as the US Army School of the Americas, is a United States Department of Defense Institute located at Fort Benning near Columbus Georgia that has provided military training to government personnel in US-allied Latin American nations for the last seventy years. What The Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation really was and continues to be is a US tool to recruit, train, and indoctrinate future military and political leaders from Latin America that can be utilized to overthrow uncooperative governments in order to replace them with ones more conducive to US economic demands and foreign policy interests. Many of the dictators and their military leaders that I described above had connections with WHINSEC. The torture practices that many of the deathsquads practiced on civilian populations in places like Guatemala and Nicaragua came straight from CIA torture manuals that were part of the curriculum at WHINSEC. The El Salvadoran soldiers that assassinated Archbishop Romero and raped and killed the four nuns were graduates of WHINSEC. Two of the generals involved in the failed 2002 coup against Hugo Chavez were WHINSEC graduates. Romeo Vasquez Velasquez, the general who recently helped overthrow the democratically elected government in Honduras, a graduate of WHINSEC. The connections and the information are all out there, it's just one google search away.

http://www.mintpressnews.com/the-school-of-the-americas-is-still-exporting-death-squads/204655/

            So is it any surprise that we still have illegal immigrants pouring over our borders? That millions have decided to make the United States there homes rather than the war torn authoritarian countries that they originated from given these US policies. Rather than viewing illegal immigrants as "illegal" and putting millions of dollars into a wall maybe we should address the issues that have caused people to come here in the first place. Overhauling our immigration system so people can get here legally in a timely fashion. Working in partnership with democratically elected leaders to foster free, open, stable, and just societies for the good of the people so that folks never feel the need to leave their homes in the first place. Offering people a path towards citizenship that are currently here (and to all the Reagan conservatives out there moaning at the very idea of amnesty you might want to google the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 which granted some 2 million illegal immigrants citizenship and was signed into law by Reagan). Also if you call yourself a Christian and you say you stand for family values I would be very curious to know what Jesus would do in this situation. The Pope has made his position clear. And you know nothing says moral family values like splitting up millions of law abiding families and forcibly deporting them back to countries where they will be surrounded by violence and poverty all because they crossed an imaginary line. And then there's the deported Illegal immigrants who have been murdered upon returning home http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/oct/12/obama-immigration-deportations-central-america. Then there's the research that proves that immigrants are actually the most law abiding facet of our society. Given that they are desperately trying to fit in and they have just fled violence they tend to break the law the least and statistically lower the crime rate. When it comes to violence and crime it's actually Americans you need to look out for. One more thing to digest before I get to my conclusion is that not everyone wants to come to the States. We flatter ourselves on thinking that the United States is the pinnacle of human achievement. There are actually more Mexicans leaving the States right now than coming in so that wall might do more "harm" than good. Why are they leaving -the number one reason is family reunification followed by the economic recession and stricter enforcement of immigration laws. Through my conversations here in Chiapas people have confirmed the importance of being with their families but they've also talked about how cold, expensive, and sometimes racist the USA is and many have said they never want to go or they never want to return... as a white dude who can't speak the language living in a town of only Mexicans I can't tell you how ashamed I am to hear these things; indeed God Bless America, because we need some help from someone.  

         Before I let you go the real takeaway point I  want to get across is that this is just the tip of the iceberg. My research these past two weeks sent me down the rabbit hole. There were times I had nearly two dozen tabs open, as the connections and the corruption just went deeper and deeper. I'm just scratching the surface here. There are even more coups, even more shadey CIA programs, and even more atrocities committed with the knowledge and/or support of the US Government. And keep in mind I kept my scope to just Central America and the Caribbean, I hardly even got into South America. Add Africa, South East Asia, Central Asia, the Pacific theater, and the Middle East and I could be writing blogs about US Foreign Policy and it's ramifications for the next year. In the 60's, 70's, and 80's we were overthrowing governments mainly with the excuse of saving the world from communism and now in the 21st Century we see the same thing happening again across the globe, with Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Libya, and now Syria all in the name to stop terrorism. Our old economic interests were sugar and bananas, now we're after the oil to the point where we support(ed) brutal dictators like the Shah of Iran, Saddam Hussein, and the Monarchs of Saudi Arabia (who ironically have beheaded twice as many people as ISIS this past year and yet continue to be held up as the United State's closest ally in the region after Israel). Meanwhile there are hundreds of thousands of refugees from Syria and Iraq who are looking for asylum as a result of, you guessed it, US foreign policy that created a climate for Assad to begin striking out and gave ISIS a home to grow. And once again you are hearing numerous American leaders telling the people we are responsible for displacing, that they are not welcome here as refugees... well luckily for us Europe is a lot closer to Syria than the States so that's their "illegal" problem now!

And some people say history doesn't repeat itself, ha!

As we are in the midst of the democratic process of selecting the candidates for the next President of the United States I urge you to consider the history I have written here. Is the person you're supporting the type of person who will continue these policies or are they someone who will actually represent the best of America both domestically and abroad. As you can see, our Commander in Chief, doesn't only influence our country, they have power to destroy or support entire populations of foreign countries. Vote wisely my friends.

HARVEST EMPIRE: This is the film that inspired everything that you have read above.