Central America Links

Alma Guillermoprieto, always a great-storyteller, returns to El Salvador for the first time in thirty years. Check out her story on In the New Gangland of El Salvador. Here is one of her opening stories.

“Is there a monument or a sign marking where the four Americanas were killed during the war?” I ask the driver of the hotel van.

“Yes, up in the university, the UCA, where they died.”

“No, those were the six Jesuit priests, years later, in San Salvador. I mean the nuns, in 1980, here.”

“Oh,” he replies. “I don’t remember.”

El Salvador's Supreme Court (CSJ) ruled in favor of Servipronto. Servipronto took McDonald's to court because it claimed that McDonald's had illegally terminated its franchising agreement in 1996.The Golden Arches is on the hook for $24 million. You can read more background on the case through a few Wikileaks cables here.

The New York Times has coverage on President Colom's apology to the Arbenz family. They underplay the Cold War background of the coup a little too much for my taste. The US was willing to support a socially progressive government in Costa Rica at the same time that the coup in Guatemala happened.

The Costa Rican government and constitution was every bit as progressive as Guatemala. However, the Costa Rican government agreed to the US' request that it repress the communists. In Guatemala, Arbenz's reforms were almost certain to strengthen the small, but well-organized, communist party.

And here are two more links to stories about the life and death of Dean Brackley, SJ who passed away last weekend after a battle with pancreatic cancer. The Ignatian Solidarity Network has several links to Dean's talks and writings. CRISPAZ has reactions to his death as well.

Forbes interviews Laura Chinchilla

Forbes magazine has an interview with Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla up on its website. In it, the interviewer asks why drug cartels have become such a problem for Costa Rica. Chinchilla answers that

The most important factor is location. We are in the middle of the most important drug producers in the South and the most important drug consumers in the North. Since we are in the middle, what you find is a lot of activities in transporting and exporting through Central America. But we cannot move. [laughs] We have to raise the barrier so we can be able to protect our country.

It's not a great question in that it's pretty obvious that CR is right in the middle of the producers and consumers. However, Forbes readers might not know this. Chinchilla found her answer funny as did I.

Anyway, if the most important factor that explains why drug cartels are causing problems in Costa Rica and Central America is the problem of geography, there's not much that can be done about that.

Strengthening the political and judicial institutions in El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica is a good thing. Reducing poverty and inequality is another important goal. Making sure that you have enough highly trained police and military to tackle the problems’ affecting you country is a positive development as well.

However, none of this will make a dent in the supply (Colombia, Peru, Bolivia) or demand (the US and Europe). At best, we’re looking at an argument that says we want to make it more difficult for drug traffickers to use the Central American mainland to ship their drugs to the US. Our goal is to make them go back to using the sea or some other alternative. 

Central America Violence

According to InSight Crime, 2011 is lining up to be a terrible year for Honduras and El Salvador. 

Honduras is on track to reach a murder rate of 86 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2011, while El Salvador could see a rate of 72 per 100,000, according to new reports.

On the other hand, August was another relatively nonlethal month for Guatemala and the country is on track to have somewhere between 39 and 40 murders per 100,000. 

Granted these estimates assume that murders occur at roughly the same rate for the remaining months as they occurred during the first eight months of the year. That's a big if especially considering that the last few months tend to be more violent, at least in Guatemala. 

However, at what point do reporters and analysts stop lumping Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras together as the murderous northern triangle? 

At a minimum, it looks like El Salvador and Honduras should be discussed in one extreme category with rate over 70 per 100,000. 

Guatemala and Belize should follow in a second, still dangerous, but less severe category with 40 per 100,000.

Finally, Nicaragua and Costa Rica comprise the third and final category with a rate just over 10.

Cold War Sunday

Old history exposes new dirty tricks talks about how US and Guatemalan governments "created bogus provocations as a way of tarring Fidel Castro and his young Cuban revolution." Most of the tricks seem to have never been implemented including a staged Cuban invasion of Guatemala. These provocations were designed to make Cuba and Castro to look bad and to generate support for US and Cuban-exile attacks against the country. Yes, the Bay of Pigs was a total fiasco for the United States. But one would probably make the argument that it was much worse for Guatemala.

In November 1960, the Guatemalan military rose up against President Miguel Ydigoras Fuentes’s government because of his collusion with the United States in trying to overthrow a fellow Latin American government in Cuba. They were also frustrated his government’s corruption. Ydigoras called it a Cuban-back uprising and appealed to the CIA for help.

Following the failed uprising, several military officers fled to neighboring countries, specifically El Salvador and Honduras. Over the next two years, many returned to Guatemala. Some joined vehemently anti-groups while others joined up with members of the Guatemalan communist party. They then formed the backbone of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) and launched a three-plus decade long guerrilla struggle against the government that would costs the lives of over two hundred thousand people. (See also CIA’s Bay of Pigs foreign policy laid bare from the Miami Herald.)

It’s quite possible that had the Ydigoras government not assisted the United States, the army would not have rebelled. There would be no rebellious military officers to form the backbone of the guerrillas. Perhaps the Guatemalan communist party would have continued to nonviolently challenge the regime through strikes, protests, and elections.

And in another bid of Central American Cold War history, Luis Carrion told that AP that the Sandinistas were behind a 1984 bombing in Costa Rica that was designed to kill Eden Pastora (Commander Zero). The bombing killed two Costa Ricans, four Nicaraguan contras, and a US journalist (Linda Frazier). At the time, many argued that the CIA was behind the attack.

Former Costa Rican President Sentenced to 5-Years

On Wednesday, a Costa Rican judge found former President Miguel Angel Rodriguez guilty of instigating corruption. He was sentenced to five years in jail and barred from any government jobs for 12 years.

Rodriguez and other former government officials were charged with taking bribes in exchange for giving the Latin American branch of the French telecom company Alcatel a $149 million cellphone contract with the Costa Rican Electricity Institute while he was president in 2001. Seven others charged in the case were sentenced to between five and 20 years in prison.

Rodriguez was only found guilty of instigating corruption. The judge absolved him on the charges of illegal enrichment because there was not enough evidence that Rodriguez personally benefited from the scandal. Even after the verdict, Rodriguez continued to maintain his innocence.

Tico Times

“We will appeal. We will defend ourselves,” Rodríguez said. “What happened today is just another step forward down the same road… I want any one of you to tell me one illegal thing I did to merit these charges.”

“How can I consider to be fair a sentence that does not explain what happened. I am not upset. I am in the middle of the process I voluntarily came in for. If we have to appeal, then we will appeal,” Rodriguez said as supporters applauded.

Perhaps Rodriguez can share a cell with his predecessor, Rafael Ángel Calderón Fournier. Calderón is also serving five years in jail on corruption charges. 


Meanwhile, in Guatemala, Attorney General Claudia Paz y Paz is expecting a guilty verdict and ten years in jail for former President Alfonso Portillo.

Costa Rican Mudslides and Climate Change

While most of the region's attention is on the river dispute between Costa Rica and Nicaragua, Costa Rica is also suffering through the worst natural disasters in recent memory.  As I mentioned Thursday, two consecutive days of heavy rains caused a mudslide in San Antonio de Escazu.  

The death toll has now risen to twenty-three with one more person unaccounted for.  Two thousand people are now in temporary shelters.  The nationwide extent of the damage is unclear.  The National Emergencies Commission has been distributing food, water and supplies to areas of the country isolated due to destroyed bridges, highway damage and roads blocked by landslides. 

Flooding has caused severe damage and loss of life this year in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Mexico as well.  For this reason, the region's government officials are planning to voice their concerns at the 16th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change held a the end of the month in Cancún.

"What we are most concerned about is the issue of vulnerability and adaptation, taking into account that the region contributes little to the greenhouse effect but we are very vulnerable to climate change," Carlos Mancilla, coordinator of the climate change unit at Guatemala's Environment Ministry, told IPS.

All told, the countries of Central America contribute less than 0.5 percent of the total greenhouse-effect gases at the global level, according to "The Economics of Climate Change in Latin America and the Caribbean 2009," a study by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)...

In Mancilla's view, Central America must be recognised as one of the world's regions most vulnerable to climate change in order to obtain financing for adaptation, capacity building, and technology transfer...

According to the national climate change coordinator for Honduras, Mirza Castro, "There is shared opinion and agreement to declare the isthmus as one of the regions that is most vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change."

Climate Change Vulnerability Index 2011

According to the Climate Change Vulnerability Index, most of Central America is highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change   Unfortunately, Haiti is among the world's extremely vulnerable.  The index

evaluates 42 social, economic and environmental factors to assess national vulnerabilities across three core areas. These include: exposure to climate-related natural disasters and sea-level rise; human sensitivity, in terms of population patterns, development, natural resources, agricultural dependency and conflicts; thirdly, the index assesses future vulnerability by considering the adaptive capacity of a country’s government and infrastructure to combat climate change.

So while the last few years have been hard on Central Americans (Hurricanes Mitch 1998, Stan 2005, and Agatha 2010, and the 2009 drought), things are likely to get worse unless there are significant national and international reforms aimed at mitigating against the effects of climate change.

Death in the Americas

A landslide in Costa Rica earlier today has killed at least 20 people, with another 14 missing as of 9:00 P.M.  Hopefully, the death toll lowers in the morning, similar to recent stories from Mexico where initial estimates were too high.  As is the case with most natural disasters, the poor were likely to have suffered disproportionately.

President Laura Chinchilla said at least 20 bodies had been pulled out the debris, including four minors. She declared Friday and Saturday as days of national mourning because of the tragedy.

The landslide in the suburb of San Antonio de Escazu followed two days of heavy rains that flooded a river near the town and sent 1,500 people to shelters across Costa Rica...

Flory Quintero, who lives nearby, said: "I know 20 families lived there together. Some were very poor and had settled near the banks of the river. When it happened, it sounded like a turbine."

And in Cuba, a plane carrying 68 people, including 61 passengers and 7 crew members, crashed en route from Santiago de Cuba to Havana.  Twenty-eight foreigners were on board. 

The AeroCaribbean Santiago de Cuba-to-Havana flight crashed about half way, going down in the village of Guasimal in the area of Sancti Spiritus...

The plane was an ATR twin turboprop aircraft that belonged to Cuba's state-owned AeroCaribbean airline.

The pilot radioed that the plane was having problems before it plummeted to the ground, said NBC News, monitoring Cuban media reports.

A terrible accident (we hope).  This seems like a great opportunity for the US to work with Cuba on a joint investigation into the crash.  We have a highly regarded NTSB that's had to deal with too many crashes and I don't remember hearing too much about recent Cuban plane crashes.  That would make too much sense.  However, I can't see it happening given the state of our bilateral relations.