Tag Archives: Guatemala

Nicaragua Seems To Escape Problems Suffered By Its Neighbors…NPR w/ Corrections

NPR did post a bit of a correction in the online transcript (posted below) concerning the fact that the police had arrested 11 people accused of the attack on July 19 that killed 5. But they were presented in court and charged–no one has been disappeared.  I would recommend reading comments from people who seem much more knowledgeable about Nicaragua than the NPR reporter.  See comments at this link… The posting below comes from an email bulletin from the Nicaragua Network.

On a personal note, I lived in Nicaragua during the height of the contra war in the mid-1980s. People suffered terribly from the US-sponsored violence. Every family I knew had someone serving in volunteer militias or police or other self-defense forces and I knew many families who lost people to the contra violence–imposed by illegal US arms-trafficking, much of it funded by drug trafficking.

I visited in 2013 and while joblessness and poverty are an issue, there is not the kind of criminal violence and police and military oppression that exist in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. The Nicaraguan people made real changes to their government and security forces during the revolution (it took more than 20 years and a lot of people died). And in the years since, Nicaragua has had several substantive regime changes brought about by democratic elections. I recommend reading the comments posted to NPR.  Others with more recent experience provide some excellent corrections to the NPR story. -molly

August 14, 2014

“This publication may be reproduced in whole or in part. Please credit the Nicaragua Network.

National Public Radio ran an interview this morning, Aug. 14, 2014, entitled “Nicaragua Seems To Escape Problems Suffered By Its Neighbors,” with reporter Carrie Kahn which contains a few good factoids such as “Nicaragua is unique in Central America for its low crime rate,” has an economic growth rate unrivaled in the region, and its police have not adopted strong arm tactics.

However, it also contained many untruths and mistaken analyses…”

You can read the rest of the Nicaragua Network article here or on the Frontera List.

Immigration Rumors May Be Driving More Women, Children To Cross Border…Fronteras Desk

In this report, at least one Guatemalan immigrant reports that there is information/misinformation in that country and along the migrant trail that women and children will not be detained (at least not for long) if they are able to reach the U.S. Each case is different. In the case reported here, the mother is undocumented and she entered (or probably re-entered) the US illegally. This will probably make her deportable and she will have a difficult time avoiding that. The fact that she has US citizen children may help her case, but it does not insure that she will not be deported.

I have no doubt that immigrants or potential immigrants talk about experiences they have had or have heard of where women and children will be processed and then released and this makes them willing to take their chances at getting across the US border… Considering the conditions they face in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, the choices they make are quite logical. -molly