|
Explaining Salvadoran Immigration |
|
|
Written by DC Tedrow
|
|
Tuesday, 01 July 2008 |
|
Counterpunch has a very good article on the politico-economic forces that propel immigration from El Salvador to the United States, particularly CAFTA. From the article: This forced displacement of people – a human tragedy on a massive scale – is at the heart of the trade agreements. Enacted fifteen years ago, NAFTA established a now familiar regional pattern. It has allowed U.S. grain companies “to dump cheap corn on the Mexican market, while at the same time Mexico was forced to cut its agricultural subsidies.” Poor farmers in Oaxaca and Chiapas can no longer sell their crops at prices covering their production costs. So they’ve joined the stream of six million Mexicans seeking work here. The Salvadoran economist Alfonso Goitia sees the same phenomenon occurring in El Salvador, where 40 per cent of the workforce is still employed in agriculture. Out of a total population of six million, 750,000 Salvadorans became political or economic exiles prior to the 1992 peace accords ending the civil war. Today, two million live in the U.S.A. because – under a series of ARENA governments over the last fifteen years – El Salvador has embraced free trade, adopted the dollar as its currency, privatized public services, ratified CAFTA, and consigned a large percentage of the population to continued poverty and exploitation.
The author notes that problem is only made worse by the fact that the Salvadoran government denies aid to leftist sympathizers -- many of whom were allied against the U.S.-backed regime that terrorized El Salvador throughout the 1980s, killing upwards of 70,000 people.
|
