For weeks now we have been hearing and reading about the the flood of Central American child refugees arriving on our southern border. We are told that they are fleeing violence.
I know that El Salvador has a long history of violence, thefts, gang extortion and killings. But within my sistering communities there has generally been an absence of such violence.
Until now.
A week ago I received a phone call from a friend in a small community in the northern Department of Chalatenango, El Salvador. He called to tell me about Anibal, a young man of 22 years who was coming back to the community after working in the cornfield. It was around one o'clock in the afternoon. There, just on the outskirts of the community, Anibal was confronted by several gang members who had come from outside the community looking for him. At point blank range they shot Anibal five times in the head. They left as quickly as they had come.
Until now.
A week ago I received a phone call from a friend in a small community in the northern Department of Chalatenango, El Salvador. He called to tell me about Anibal, a young man of 22 years who was coming back to the community after working in the cornfield. It was around one o'clock in the afternoon. There, just on the outskirts of the community, Anibal was confronted by several gang members who had come from outside the community looking for him. At point blank range they shot Anibal five times in the head. They left as quickly as they had come.
The entire community now lives under a dark cloud of fear because of the increasing violence which each day becomes more widespread. Such terrorizing acts have now reached this small community. The residents no longer leave their homes after dark. Neighboring communities are also on heightened alert.
And such gang violence has hit me also since the people of these communities are my sisters and brothers, my children, my grandchildren. I fear for them, I fear with them.
And I understand a bit clearer why there are waves of young Latinos arriving on our Southern border.
This phenomena is not just a humanitarian crisis, it is a man-made disaster. These children are the “canary in the mine” pointing to a deeper, toxic problem confronting Washington. Republican congressional leaders argue that this flood of unaccompanied children arriving on our southern border is caused by U.S. government policy. They are right: our government created this refugee crisis. But they are dead wrong on which policy caused the influx. Read about the real policies. Taken from:
CENTRAL AMERICAN CHILD IMMIGRANTS
July 8, 2014 · by COHA · in Central America, Human Rights, Immigration, Press Releases
By Hector Perla, Guest Scholar at the Council on Hemispheric Affairs
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