scholarly journals A Migrant-Centric Reading of Exodus 2: Tactics of Survival for Immigrant Women and Their Unaccompanied Children

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 499-514
Author(s):  
Gregory Lee Cuéllar
Keyword(s):  
Central America ◽  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Internal Migration ◽  
The United States ◽  
Vantage Point ◽  
Central American ◽  
Mass Migration ◽  
Unaccompanied Children ◽  
American Children ◽  
Birth Story

AbstractFrom a different vantage point, stories of migration, deportation, exile and diaspora in the Hebrew Bible have more than a didactic function; rather, they speak to and out of a set core of human experiences that in turn render them relevant across the historical spectrum of human migrations. Thus, rather than survey what the Hebrew Bible says about migration, how might its migrant-likeness compare to contemporary migrant-refugee tactics of survival? This article focuses on the story of baby Moses’s internal migration to the Pharaoh’s palace in Exodus 2 with a view toward the recent mass migration of unaccompanied Central America children to the United States. Through this parallel reading, the aim is to forge a migrant-centric reading of this narrative that casts it not as a birth story but as a relevant migrant-survival story that many unaccompanied Central American children are currently living. In the end, this article argues that by framing Exodus 2 solely as a birth story, readers inevitably foreclose on the possibility of elaborating an interpretation of this narrative that addresses the conflict, loss and trauma of many migrant-refugees in our world today.

When Internal Migration Fails: A Case Study of Central American Youth Who Relocate Internally Before Leaving Their Countries

2021 ◽  
pp. 233150242110427
Author(s):  
Angel Alfonso Escamilla García
Keyword(s):  
Central America ◽  
Internal Migration ◽  
Home Country ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Central American ◽  
Executive Summary ◽  
Labor Exploitation ◽  
Central American Youth

Executive Summary This paper examines the experiences of Central American youth who have attempted internal relocation before migrating internationally. Based on interviews and participant observation with Guatemalan, Honduran, and Salvadoran youth migrating through Mexico, this paper shows how youth from the Northern Countries of Central America turn to their domestic networks to escape labor exploitation and gang violence before undertaking international journeys. The paper further demonstrates how those domestic networks lead youth into contexts of poverty and violence similar to those they seek to escape, making their internal relocation a disappointment. The failure of their internal relocation attempts makes them turn to international migrant networks as their next option. This paper sheds light on the underexplored issue of internal migration among Central American youth and that migration's synergy with Central American youths’ migration to the United States. The paper finds that internal relocation is unsuccessful when the internal destination fails to resolve the issues from which youth are attempting to escape. This failure ultimately triggers their departure from their home country.

US Central Americans in Art and Visual Culture

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kency Cornejo
Keyword(s):  
Central America ◽  
American Art ◽  
The United States ◽  
Central American ◽  
Central Americans ◽  
Visual Narratives ◽  
Visual Discourse ◽  
Hollywood Films ◽  
Mass Migration ◽  
Us Intervention

After a long void in scholarship, literature on US/Central American art began to emerge in the decade of the 2010s. As this new body of literature emerges it is important to consider the politics of visuality and visibility as it informs production and reception of contemporary art by US Central Americans. During the years of US intervention that fueled Central American conflicts (1970s–1990s), the United States produced a visual discourse on Central Americans for US audiences, especially evident in photography, political posters, and Hollywood films. This visual discourse relied on a what I call a “solidarity aesthetics” for Central America, in which images and representations of Central Americans were made, selected, disseminated, and framed to produce empathy and encourage action with the region across the globe. Yet, this solidarity aesthetics entailed optical codes—imagery on poverty, violence, and tropical landscapes—that subsequently established a reductive visual trope about Central America still used today. This visual discourse not only objectifies a Central American subject, but further enables the erasure of US/Central American creative practices as it implies the region produces violence and not art. In the context of such visual discourse, art by Alma Leiva, Muriel Hasbun, Beatriz Cortez, Jessica Lagunas, and Óscar Moisés Díaz exemplifies a disruption of dominant visual discourse by US Central Americans artists. They create art and images that counter historical erasure and the visual tropes that propagate violence while offering alternative visual narratives that reflect on the legacies of war, US intervention, and the consequential displacement and mass migration of thousands of Central Americans.

The United States and the Rise of General Maximiliano Hernández Martínez

1971 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth J. Grieb
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
El Salvador ◽  
Central America ◽  
American Politics ◽  
State Department ◽  
The United States ◽  
The State ◽  
Central American ◽  
Coup D'etat ◽  
The Military

The militarycoup d'étatwhich installed General Maximiliano Hernández Martínez as President of El Salvador during December 1931 created a crisis involving the 1923 Washington Treaties. By the terms of these accords, the Central American nadons had pledged to withhold recognition from governments seizing power through force in any of the isthmian republics. Although not a signatory of the treaty, the United States based its recognition policy on this principle. Through this means the State Department had attempted to impose some stability in Central America, by discouraging revolts. With the co-operation of the isthmian governments, United States diplomats endeavored to bring pressure to bear on the leaders of any uprising, to deny them the fruits of their victory, and thus reduce the constant series ofcoupsandcounter-coupsthat normally characterized Central American politics.

Central American integration through infrastructure development: A case study of Costa Rican hydropower

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 96-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Denielle M. Perry ◽  
Kate A. Berry
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Central America ◽  
Free Trade ◽  
Regional Integration ◽  
Free Trade Agreement ◽  
Trade Agreement ◽  
The United States ◽  
Global Market ◽  
Central American ◽  
Infrastructure Development

At the turn of the 21st century, protectionist policies in Latin America were largely abandoned for an agenda that promoted free trade and regional integration. Central America especially experienced an increase in international, interstate, and intraregional economic integration through trade liberalization. In 2004, such integration was on the agenda of every Central American administration, the U.S. Congress, and Mexico. The Plan Puebla-Panama (PPP) and the Central America Integrated Electricity System (SIEPAC), in particular, aimed to facilitate the success of free trade by increasing energy production and transmission on a unifi ed regional power grid (Mesoamerica, 2011). Meanwhile, for the United States, a free trade agreement (FTA) with Central America would bring it a step closer to realizing a hemispheric trade bloc while securing market access for its products. Isthmus states considered the potential for a Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) with the United States, their largest trading partner, as an opportunity to enter the global market on a united front. A decade and a half on, CAFTA, PPP, and SIEPAC are interwoven, complimentary initiatives that exemplify a shift towards increased free trade and development throughout the region. As such, to understand one, the other must be examined.

Securing Central America Against Communism: The United States and the Modernization of Surveillance in the Cold War

1999 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert H. Holden
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Central America ◽  
Formation Process ◽  
The United States ◽  
Central American ◽  
Sponsored Programs ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Cold War

The US.-sponsored programs of military and police collaboration with the Central American governments during the Cold War also contributed to the surveillance capacity of those states during the period when the Central American state formation process was being completed. Guatemala is used as a case study. Washington’s contribution was framed by the conventional discourse of “security against communism” but also by an underlying technocratic ethos in which “modernization” and “security” were higher priorities than democratization.

The West German Social Democratic Party and The Politics of Internationalism in Central America

1987 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 89-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eusebio Mujal-Leon
Keyword(s):  
Central America ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
The United States ◽  
Central American ◽  
Social Democratic Party ◽  
The West ◽  
Social Democrats ◽  
Trade Union Movement ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Democratic Parties

One of the Most Notable Aspects of the Crisis in Central America has been the opportunity it has offered a number of actors, both within and without the region, to become involved in an area long considered a traditional reserve and zone of influence of the United States. Over the last decade, no European Socialist or Social Democratic party has been more important or influential with respect to Central American issues than the West German Social Democratic Party (SPD or Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands). Despite being in the opposition since 1982, the West German Social Democrats have retained their prominence on international issues—particularly on Central American ones—for a number of reasons, such as: (1) having a solid electoral base (37% of the votes in the 1987 Bundestag elections); (2) having leaders who are internationally prominent; (3) having a well-organized foreign policy apparatus at their disposal (the well-financed Friedrich Ebert Stiftung foundation); (4) having connections to a similarly endowed trade union movement, organized around the Deutsche Gewerkschaftsbund(DGB); as well as (5) having persisted in their efforts to coordinate joint initiatives with other Socialist and Social Democratic parties, both within the European Economic Community (EEC) and through the Socialist International (SI).

scholarly journals Ganged Up On: How the US immigration system penalises and fails to protect Central American minors who are trafficked for criminal activity by gangs

2021 ◽  
pp. 104-122
Author(s):  
Katherine Soltis ◽  
Madeline Taylor Diaz
Keyword(s):  
Central America ◽  
Criminal Activity ◽  
The United States ◽  
Central American ◽  
Street Gangs ◽  
Mara Salvatrucha ◽  
The Us ◽  
United States Immigration ◽  
States Immigration ◽  
Us Immigration

This article addresses the failures of the United States immigration system to protect Central American minors who were trafficked for exploitation in criminal activities by gangs. In particular, it focuses on the ways in which the US immigration system denies humanitarian protection to Central American minors who were forced to participate in criminal activity by the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and 18th Street gangs, and instead detains them. The article will examine this trend in the context of a larger proclivity to criminalise immigration in the US, particularly minors fleeing violence in Central America. We draw upon our experience representing Central American minors in their applications for humanitarian immigration relief to highlight how the US immigration system fails to protect this vulnerable population and penalises these children for their own victimisation.

scholarly journals U.S. Migration Policy Radicalization (2017-2019): Case of Mexico and Central America

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 108-118
Author(s):  
Arkadiy Alekseevich Eremin
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Central America ◽  
Migration Policy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Central American ◽  
Social Basis ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Mexico Border ◽  
And Migration ◽  
Political Economic

This article is an attempt to critically analyze the policy of the 45th President of the United States Donald Trump regarding the southern border of the USA with Mexico. The paper analyzes the approach of Washington under the administration of D. Trump to the problem of the joint border between USA and Mexico, as well as conducts a comprehensive assessment of the main programs underlying the most pressing changes in D. Trumps policy in this area. In particular, the paper focuses on the structure of migration flows between 2017 and 2019, as well as on the reasons behind those changes. The author looks at the root causes of the unprecedented increase in the flow of potential migrants and refugees, and correlates them with the ongoing political, economic and humanitarian crises in the Central American sub-region. An important focus is given to the increasing role of Mexico in the settlement of this issue, as well as to the potential impact of such cooperation between the authorities of the United States and Mexico on the situation in Central America and Latin America in general. The significance of this paper is determined by the objective necessity of academic evaluation of the Donald Trumps administration impact on the United States governmental and foreign policy course. The author argues that the approach of the 45th president of the United States regarding traditionally sensitive issues like US - Mexico border control and migration has been mostly based on coercive tactics with obvious disregard towards social basis and root-causes of the issue at hand. One of the most distinguished traits of this approach is the practice of outsourcing managing the problem of refugees from Central America to the border-country, which in this specific case is Mexico.

scholarly journals Truth or Dare: A Framework for Analyzing Credibility in Children Seeking Asylum

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Smeda
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
The United States ◽  
Central American ◽  
Supporting Evidence ◽  
Legal Counsel ◽  
Credibility Assessment ◽  
Unaccompanied Minors ◽  
Unaccompanied Children ◽  
The World ◽  
Article 5

Cornell International Law Journal: Vol. 50 : No. 2 , Article 5. U.S. border agents detained at least 52,000 unaccompanied minors from only four Central American countries—Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras—in 2014, while 95,000 unaccompanied children sought asylum in Europe in 2015.Given the ongoing turmoil in various parts of the world, these numbers will likely rise. Children are narrowly escaping their native countries. With little help available from legal counsel and little time to gather supporting evidence, more children are relying on the gamble of a positive credibility assessment in an asylum application.The stakes are high—either a new life in the United States, or probable fatality at home if deported.The lives of all children should receive more security than the subjective judgment of the immigration official conducting the child’s credibility assessment. Current strategies used to increase the accuracy of credibility determinations are often misguided by outdated methodology. By implementing more robust, updated guidelines to increase the accuracy of credibility appraisals and ensuring that the recommendations are practiced with regularity, we can enhance the visibility of children facing persecution.

Central America-US Relations

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evan D. McCormick
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Central America ◽  
The United States ◽  
Central American ◽  
Main Element ◽  
Democratic Capitalism ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Foreign Policies ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Cold War

Since gaining independence in 1823, the states comprising Central America have had a front seat to the rise of the United States as a global superpower. Indeed, more so than anywhere else, the United States has sought to use its power to shape Central America into a system that heeds US interests and abides by principles of liberal democratic capitalism. Relations have been characterized by US power wielded freely by officials and non-state actors alike to override the aspirations of Central American actors in favor of US political and economic objectives: from the days of US filibusterers invading Nicaragua in search of territory; to the occupations of the Dollar Diplomacy era, designed to maintain financial and economic stability; to the covert interventions of the Cold War era. For their part, the Central American states have, at various times, sought to challenge the brunt of US hegemony, most effectively when coordinating their foreign policies to balance against US power. These efforts—even when not rejected by the United States—have generally been short-lived, hampered by economic dependency and political rivalries. The result is a history of US-Central American relations that wavers between confrontation and cooperation, but is remarkable for the consistency of its main element: US dominance.

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