The Two-Faced Lion Speaks

We keep forgetting the role of the United States is what I will describe as the “narcoization” of Mexico and points south. It can be egregious, like the CIA’s Iran Contra-gate involvement in support of the Reagan-era drug smuggling into the United States to fund illicit arms for various countries where we were not permitted to be directly involved, or pervasive: Like the rising consumer demand for narcotics across the United States, regardless of criminality, and the dramatic inability of our federal and state governments to contain this plague. This demand is the fuel that has created this massive narcoization in nations to our south. 

And then we have the mega-lax, almost non-existent, US legal restraints in the sale of guns of all shapes, sizes and capacity, particularly military grade assault rifles, which have been smuggled in abundance south of our border. Oh, and lest we forget that some of the most lethal operatives in the corruption and violence are gangs that began in the United States. Like MS-13 which was born in Los Angeles and has polluted El Salvador almost beyond redemption. 

It is no secret that revenues generated from the drug trade have created alternative quasi-military if not parallel governments all over Latin America. De facto civil wars. Cartels and gangs have enlisted the most senior elected officials, entire police forces and even the local judicial systems through the most pervasive corruption on earth in so many Latin American nations, particularly in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador (the “Northern Triangle Nations”)… with deep ties well into Mexico at every level. To many in these nations, the drug trade – from cultivation and processing through transshipment and smuggling – is the largest industry in the country.

We get angry at the number of residents from Latin American narco-states knocking on our door, seeking asylum from the chaos and violence in their home countries for which American failures are truly responsible. Donald Trump ignored that reality, and the Biden administration is seeking to apply mere palliatives (chump change compared to cartel “investments”) to turn narco-states into nations where their citizens can live without fear… and hence not seek asylum into the United States. We’ve sent high ranking US officials – even our Vice-President – on missions to undo deeply embedded violence and corruption to take pressure off our immigration nightmare. Good luck with that process.

Tracy Wilkinson, writing for the June 2nd Los Angeles Times, follows the efforts of our Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, as he meets with various heads of Latin states to sell his anti-corruption message… albeit to many leaders who are themselves massive beneficiaries of that corruption: “He could be facing a tough crowd. U.S. relations with the governments of El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, in particular, are badly strained, complicating President Biden’s plan to use $4 billion over the next four years to boost democratic reforms and improve the economies in those three so-called Northern Triangle nations — the source of most migrants attempting to enter the U.S. illegally…

“‘What we hope and expect to hear from our partners are commitments to address all the issues’ that drive illegal immigration, such as an erosion in democracy, poor security, poverty and corruption, Blinken said in a news conference at the Casa Presidencial in San Jose [Costa Rica], the capital… ‘We’re in many of these challenges together,’ he said. ‘What we’re seeing in too many places around the world, including this region, is backsliding from those basic principles’ of democracy, human rights and rule of law.

“Blinken is attending an annual meeting of the foreign ministers of the eight-member Central American Integration System, an economic and political association of all Central American countries plus the Dominican Republic.

“Administration officials say they have already made clear to the Central American presidents that very little of the $4 billion will go to the central governments but instead will be channeled through nongovernmental organizations and other private entities.

“To underscore that warning, the U.S. Agency for International Development last week announced that it was diverting all aid it gives El Salvador from the government to ‘civil society’ groups that monitor human rights and fight corruption. (USAID did not say how much money was involved.)

“The move came after Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele fired the country’s attorney general and Supreme Court magistrates and then ignored entreaties from Washington and elsewhere to reconsider what was widely seen as an illegal power grab.

“‘We recognize that in some cases we don’t have perfect development partners,’ said Mark Feierstein, special advisor at USAID, ‘but we’re confident that we can identify in Central America ... reformers within government ... [and] civil society actors who can hold their governments accountable.’

“The Biden administration is concerned about what it sees as similar erosions of democracy in Guatemala, where President Alejandro Giammattei has sought to undercut the courts, and in Honduras, which has an especially difficult problem. Its president, the staunch Trump ally Juan Orlando Hernández, is under federal investigation in the U.S. on drug-trafficking allegations. Administration officials have said privately they will shun him.

“Meeting with the foreign ministers of those countries might yield better results as Blinken hopes to enlist their cooperation on immigration and hear plans for reforms at home… Blinken scheduled one-on-one encounters with the foreign ministers of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. In addition to the Costa Rican president and foreign minister, Carlos Alvarado Quesada and Rodolfo Solano, he will meet with Mexican Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard, who is attending as an observer.”

“Dealings with Nicaragua, which was also present at the summit, could become a point of contention. No U.S. administration has had a good relationship with Managua for years, ever since President Daniel Ortega began cracking down on the opposition and news media and staying in power through suspicious elections.” 

These problems have taken decades to reach the depths of despair and desperation, corruption on a level we have never seen before, and our efforts – selfishly focused on stemming illicit immigration – can only be described as too little, too late. We are pushing for vaccines to reach these nations, something we should have addressed a while ago. Even convincing US corporations to invest in these tarnished lands – 12 major corporations, including Microsoft and Nestle’s Nespresso – is just a drop in the bucket… assuming that these companies can even function in this toxic environment. 

I’m Peter Dekom, and it will take decades and massive US investments just to begin to reverse the tide that we have caused.