Seeking Refuge
Описание книги
The political upheaval in Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala had a devastating human toll at the end of the twentieth century. A quarter of a million people died during the period 1974-1996. Many of those who survived the wars chose temporary refuge in neighboring countries such as Honduras and Costa Rica. Others traveled far north, to Mexico, the United States, and Canada in search of safety. Over two million of those who fled Central America during this period settled in these three countries. <br /><br /> In this incisive book, María Cristina García tells the story of that migration and how domestic and foreign policy interests shaped the asylum policies of Mexico, the United States, and Canada. She describes the experiences of the individuals and non-governmental organizations—primarily church groups and human rights organizations—that responded to the refugee crisis, and worked within and across borders to shape refugee policy. These transnational advocacy networks collected testimonies, documented the abuses of states, re-framed national debates about immigration, pressed for changes in policy, and ultimately provided a voice for the displaced.<br /><br /> García concludes by addressing the legacies of the Central American refugee crisis, especially recent attempts to coordinate a regional response to the unique problems presented by immigrants and refugees—and the challenges of coordinating such a regional response in the post-9/11 era.
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SEEKING REFUGE
Central American Migrationto Mexico, the United States, and Canada
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Various guerrilla groups operated during the 1960s and 1970s to challenge the dictatorships. In 1982, the four principal guerrilla armies joined to form the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG). Their platform included agrarian reform and price controls; equality between Indians and ladinos; democratic representation; and civil liberties such as freedom of expression and religion.67 The government tried to control the population and erode the guerrillas' popular base through special programs such as the euphemistically called frijoles y fusiles (beans and rifles) and techo, tortillas, y trabajo (housing, tortillas, and employment), which provided food and other aid in exchange for service in the patrullas de autodefensa civil (civilian defense patrols). At the height of the civilian patrol system, the patrullas counted nine hundred thousand members.68 The violence against the opposition reached new levels of barbarism from 1981 to 1984, during the governments of Generals Romeo Lucas García, Efraín Ríos Montt, and Oscar Mejía Víctores.69 The army burned fields and killed livestock to destroy the guerrillas' food supplies. Individuals remotely suspected of assisting the guerrillas, no matter how young, were viciously tortured and killed.70
The army called such actions “scientific killings” designed to eliminate the rebels' base of support. (Many of these atrocities were chronicled by Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchú in her controversial memoir I, Rigoberta Menchú.)76 Survivors and nearby villagers fled deeper into the mountains to avoid a similar fate, or crossed the border into southern Mexico, where they hoped to find refuge among kindred cultural groups. Those who appealed for amnesty or who were caught by the Guatemalan military and allowed to live were “reoriented”: interrogated for information on the guerrillas and then subjected to “reeducation” classes for twelve to fifteen hours every day for several months, where they were lectured on the “falsehoods” of the guerrillas' political campaign. Finally, in strategic areas, the so-called polos de desarrollo, inhabitants of towns and villages, were relocated to heavily patrolled “model villages,” where their actions were strictly regulated.77
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