Lesson 21: Including US Intervention in Central America in the Immigration Debate

April 11, 2019

Review:

• Group assignments
• Country Timelines
• Exam 4 on Thu, Apr 18
• Final on Thu, Apr 25

Presentation:

• Complete timeline reporting
• Harvest of Empire segments

• El Salvador (1:07:30-1:18:45)
  • Salvadoran Military
    • Assassinated Bishop Óscar Romero (recently canonized)
    • Raped and murdered 4 American nuns
    • Slaughtered entire villages
    • Many leaders trained by the US Military, in the US (School of the Americas)
    • Backed and financed by the US govt
  • MS-13
    • Started in LA in the 1980s by Salvadorans who fled civil war

• Guatemala (11:40-18:30)
  • Post-WWII had progressive government enacting land reform
  • CIA infiltration and overthrow of government
  • Brutal repression of political opponents and indigenous population
  • Over 200,000 killed and 50,000 missing during decades of turmoil
  • Majority of victims were indigenous Mayan
    • Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu
  • Documented evidence that death squads were supported and trained by CIA

Discussion:

• Did these interventions contribute to today’s instability in the region?
• Does the US have any legal/moral obligation to accept immigrants from the region?
• Mexico

Assignment:

• Prepare to discuss the US-Mexico border in class Tue
• Watch Cartel Land (assigned previously)