Violence and corruption in Central America, particularly in the Northern Triangle countries, is causing a wave of outward migration. The Trump administration's response to the problem could make it worse. Meanwhile, newly elected reformist leaders in El Salvador and Panama face opposition from entrenched interests that benefit from the status quo. Explore WPR's extensive coverage of the Central America crisis.
For years, Central America has contended with the violence and corruption stemming from organized crime and the drug trade. Now the countries of the region also find themselves in U.S. President Donald Trump’s line of fire, due to the many desperate Central Americans who make their way across Mexico to seek asylum at the United States’ southern border.
The steady stream of outward migration is driven by ongoing turmoil, particularly in Nicaragua and in the Northern Triangle countries of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. The three Northern Triangle countries rank among the most violent in the world, a legacy of the civil wars in El Salvador and Guatemala, which destabilized security structures and flooded the region with guns. In that context, gangs—often brought back home by deportees from the U.S.—have proliferated, and along with them the drug trade and corruption, fueling increasing lawlessness. Popular unrest has done little to produce political solutions, leading many of the most vulnerable to flee.
The highly publicized and politically instrumentalized caravans of migrants have drawn Trump’s ire, resulting in threats to cut U.S. development aid to the region. Some experts predict this will only fuel more people to flee. Meanwhile, Washington’s influence is also being steadily eroded as administrations across Central America consider deepening their ties to China.
The presidential election in early 2019 of a 37-year-old populist in El Salvador and an anti-corruption crusader in Panama might signal that new efforts to address graft and violence are on the horizon. But entrenched interests will likely do their best to maintain the status quo, much as they have in the face of reformist efforts in other countries in the region.
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