Book Description

The forces driving ordinary people to leave their homes and put their lives at risk to get to the US border are deeply rooted in Central America's history of inequality and violence, in which the US has long played a defining role. However, the flow of migrants trying to cross the border illegally is not all blowback from US foreign policy. Much of the poverty, injustice and murder in Central America is homegrown; Guatemala being the poorest country in Central America, where 47% of children are chronically malnourished. Guatemala is also the most dangerous country in the world for environment defenders, with at least 16 killed in 2018, most of them indigenous Mayans; with small criminal elites and corrupt politicians having long prospered at the expense of the populations. Hence combating poverty, injustice and corruption must be made a priority in the region - both for local governments and the International Community - so that peace, prosperity and civil rights can finally be manifested in Central America!