Caravan group mirrors Sandusky

SANDUSKY — The men, women and children in a caravan headed to the U.S. border might have something in common with the workers at Corso's arrested in the summer, according to one expert."The stories people are telling are the same type of things we heard from the people who made it to Norwalk and Sandusky," said Baldemar Velasquez, 71, who has dedicated his life to exposing the plight of migrant workers."When you have a family thinking it's safer to be in an American jail than in their hometown, that speaks volumes of what's happening in their country," Velasquez said.Velasquez is the president and founder of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, a labor union based out of Toledo, which represents migrant farm workers. "I've been talking to some of our friends at the peasant organizations helping the migrants to assess what's happening, but I'm thinking of making a trip down there myself to find out the facts for myself."The caravan issue raises the question: Is America the accidental architect of the conditions that led to the immigration crisis?"I think what a lot of people miss in the immigration debate is the role that foreign policy and trade has on immigration and the displacement of people," Velasquez said the stories he heard from the migrant caravan are the same hardships he heard from the people detained in Sandusky following June's raid at Corso's Flower and Garden Center."The stories people are telling are the same type of things we heard from the people who made it to Norwalk and Sandusky," Velasquez said. "I've been talking to some of our friends at the peasant organizations helping the migrants to assess what's happening, but I'm thinking of making a trip down there myself to find out the facts for myself."He and other immigration experts believe decades of U.S. policies helped create the conditions immigrants are coming to America to escape.The role of cornIn the U.S., corn is a cash crop — sold by farmers for profit instead of use. But to a Mexican farmer, it's vital to his or her family's survival."In Mexico, it's a living commodity and a basic staple of their consumption," Velasquez said. "They sell what they don't eat to pay for the things they need, but can't grow."This way of living was almost destroyed following President Bill Clinton's passage of NAFTA, a free-trade agreement between the U.S., Mexico and Canada."NAFTA eliminated tariffs on U.S. crops coming into Mexico opening up competition between U.S. and Mexican farmers in the core market," Velasquez said.The Mexican farmers were unable to compete with subsidized farms, and, as U.S. corn exports quadrupled, the price of Mexican corn dropped by almost 66 percent, according to the Wilson International Center for Scholars.No longer able to able to rely on the sale of excess corn to sustain their families, about 3 million people abandoned their farms to look for work elsewhere."When you take away the basic commodity a rural person needs in Mexico to survive, it's going to displace them," Velasquez said. "It's forced migration."The farmers first went to cities, but overcrowding resulted in slums and lack of employment opportunities. This led many of them to cross the border into the U.S. to look for work as farm hands.The caravanThe caravan traveling through Chiapas, Mexico, toward the U.S. border is comprised of thousands of people who say they are fleeing violence and terrible conditions. Conditions, which Velasquez believes, were worsened by American interference and foreign policy.Migrant caravans aren't a new concept. They are employed by people to protect themselves from the threats they face on their journey. They're targets to cartels and gangs who hope to kidnap them for ransom or for the human trafficking market."For years, I've heard of smaller groups of people being abducted or killed during the journey," Velasquez said. "It's becoming increasingly dangerous to cross the border, and people die ... The risk these people go through just to get here and to get out of the extreme poverty and danger of their home country is amazing."The current migrant caravan began in Honduras, but it's also comprised of people from Guatemala and Honduras. There's been an increase in immigration, both legal and illegal, to the U.S. from all three countries in recent years.Many say they are fleeing violence and poverty that the U.S. may have a hand in creating after decades of supporting oppressive regimes.The Honduran government was overthrown in 2009 by the military, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton faced harsh criticism for claiming the coup was legal and for not cutting aid to the country, according to the Washington Post.Guatemala and El SalvadorIn 1954, the CIA operation supported the coup d'etat in Guatemala, which overthrew the democratically elected leader, Jacobo Arbenz.The U.S. said the mission was to stop the spread of Communism, but the decision was also influenced by the United Fruit Co.'s lobbying, according to an article written by Dr. Lisa Garcia Bedolla, a foreign policy professor at University of California, Berkeley.Arbenz's policies cut down on their monopoly of the country's infrastructure and would have allowed employees to strike to demand higher wages and job security."We've supported dictators and companies over labor unions, which are the ones who give voices to the people to make sure they can have a living wage in their own country," Velasquez said.The CIA operation placed dictator Carlos Castillo Armas into power and set off a violent civil war, which lasted until 1996. The U.S. regularly supported the oppressive government, whose members would later be accused of war crimes and genocide of the Maya population."We supported the president of Guatemala, and he was indicted for crimes against humanity after his policies linked him to the mass killing of indigenous people," Velasquez said. "When we support country's like that, it's no wonder people want to live for their safety."The U.S., likewise, supported the Salvadoran Civil War in the 1980s as President Ronald Reagan took a hardline stance and supported an oppressive government against rebels which were seen as communist, according to The Atlantic.Both civil wars are said to have contributed to the mass immigration of people and the continued gang violence in the countries.Reach reporter Michael Harrington at michaelharrington@sanduskyregister.com, follow the Register at Facebook.com/SanduskyRegisterHonduran migrants take a rest in the main plaza, after reaching the city of Pijijiapan, Mexico, on October 25, 2018, as the caravan of thousands continued toward the United States. (Miguel Juarez Lugo/Zuma Press/TNS)