Last month’s killing of fisherfolk in Honduras was the consequence of a regional push to confront drug traffickers, typified by militarized solutions that harm the people and popular movements of Central America.
The violence caused by Mexican President Filipe Calderón’s dispatching the military to the streets to confront drug trafficking failed to reduce traffickers ability to move drugs but changed their supply routes. Central America has become a major drug shipment route.
The region’s importance as a transit route has led to various international programs, such as the Central America Regional Security Initiative and El Salvador’s Partnership for Growth. While prison overcrowding, police corruption and other problems exist in the forefront of a region recovering from civil wars, increased militarization is not the solution.
CISPES and PCASC member Allen Hines, along with our friends at the B Media Collective, helped put together the following videos which explain the current security situation in El Salvador and its roots. The regional security plans are having similar effects across Central America.