In war as in war

There are major crises that require major reactions. In the aftermath of World War II, to save Europe from its devastation, the United States provided what ended up being 5% of its GDP in the form of financial and material aid. Central America needs a “Marshall Plan” today.

Everyone in Washington these days is outraged by the influx of immigrants to the Mexican border: a humanitarian crisis for some, a crisis of political incompetence for others. And there are those who see that it is not a crisis at all, but it hardly represents a challenge to the seasonal peak in visitors.

The borders are clearly stormy. Alejandro Mayuras, the US Secretary of Homeland Security, admits himself that more people have arrived there since the start of 2021 than at any time in the past 20 years.

The adults and families were separated, but we did – Alhamdulillah! The heart does not reject the travel of a minor alone. Of the 172,000 people who stopped at the border in March, nearly 19,000 were children and adolescents, more than in any month since such statistics were collected.

A series of epidemics

The vast majority of these immigrants come from the three “Northern Triangle” countries, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. A certain level of misery is part of everyday life. There, for example, nearly 60% of Guatemalans live below the poverty line.

Corruption also plagues these societies. According to Transparency International, corruption has recently washed away millions of dollars in Honduras and the battle against impunity is turning from failure to failure. On the other hand, El Salvador may not be victorious anymore at the height of global murders, but the three countries continue to rank among the most violent in the world.

Finally, the White House Climate Summit on Thursday and Friday indicated that in 2020 Central America was – and should remain – at the center of increasingly violent storms: hurricanes And the And the corn Hundreds were killed last summer, destroying villages and crops and forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee.

To the great evils is the great means

The devastation, however, is similar to the situation in which countries devastated by a long war find themselves. Hence the increasingly urgent call for some form of “Marshall Plan” for the “Northern Triangle”.

This aid plan, named after its designer, General George Marshall, has been used to rebuild Europe since 1948. Thirteen billion dollars have been distributed to sixteen countries, which equates to $ 135 billion today.

It won’t take much to improve the situation in Central America. Better than a border wall, the United States will slow the current chaotic mass migration and succeed in a lucrative propaganda stunt like the one done abroad more than seventy years ago.

Homicide rate In 2020

• Honduras: 38
• Mexico: 27
• Savior: 20
• Guatemala: 15th
• United State : 5,8
• Canada: 1,8
• France: 1,2

Per 100,000 people

Northern Triangle

Guatemala

• 17.4 million people
• 53% are under the age of 25
• 59.3% live below the poverty line

Honduras

• 9.3 million people
• 48.3% live below the poverty line

The savior

• 6.5 million people
• 29.2% live below the poverty line