"Safe third country"?

In the background of all my meanderings and musings about history has been the unfolding drama about the "safe third country" agreement that the U.S. was trying to force down Guatemala's throat. At the same time, I've continued to receive requests for expert testimony from lawyers representing Guatemalans, including some families who had been separated at the border. Yup, still going on, folks.

People here have been pissed off at President Morales pretty much since he was elected, since he rode into office on the coattails of a massive protest movement that went on for months and toppled the government of his predecessor, former  general (and probably war criminal, as he was a military commander of the notorious G-2 in the Ixil region, where numerous massacres took place during the conflict) Otto Pérez Molina. Like Trump, Morales had no prior political experience and was an entertainer (known for his blackface performances and equally offensive caricatured portrayals of indigenous Guatemalans). He was supported by the military and has continued the same sorts of policies as Pérez Molina -- more privatization, more encouragement of foreign transnationals tearing up the environment against the wishes of the community, more criminal prosecutions (or attempted prosecutions) of indigenous and peasant leaders who have protested land grabs, energy rate hikes and the imposition of extractivist mega projects. There has also been a steep rise in the assassinations of indigenous and peasant leaders during his watch -- although the army and the police are not necessarily the ones who have pulled the triggers, but the government has been notoriously sluggish in its response to these assassinations. Swift to bring charges against those who protest, but foot-dragging in the extreme to investigate attacks, threats and assassinations of those protestors and protest organizers. 19 women leaders have been assassinated thus far in 2019 -- or at least that was the statistic on July 31. I don't have a figure offhand for men leaders who have suffered a similar fate but I'd wager that it's at least as high.  

In addition, Guatemala has some of the highest rates in the hemisphere of chronic and extreme malnutrition, particularly of children. This is concentrated in some of the more remote and mostly rural departments with predominantly indigenous populations. We're talking about the kind of malnutrition that leads to permanent cognitive damage, not just hunger and distended bellies. Maternal mortality is high, as well as infant mortality. Schools in rural areas are inadequately funded, and in most areas in order to obtain an education beyond sixth grade (the end of primary school), it's necessary to travel to another town (walking for hours) because most rural areas don't offer anything beyond sixth grade. That implies expenses even if public schools are nominally free. You need shoes, you need books, you need a backpack, you need other supplies (since the schools usually don't have them). Poor families in areas with no running water, or limited potable water, scratching out a meager subsistence on hilly, rocky land, often need the labor of every family member -- water has to be carried, clothes have to be washed, crops planted, tended and gathered, firewood has to be gathered so that food can be cooked.... 

Extreme poverty -- as defined by the United Nations -- also characterizes these rural areas. There is little paid employment, and wages for agricultural work (people who don't have land of their own to farm, or insufficient land, hire themselves out to their neighbors) are extremely low. Because of years of drought, there have been crop failures in many areas. I traveled through areas where the corn - the staple of most people's diet -- had all withered. What do people do when they have nothing to eat? They can go into debt -- mortgaging their homes or their lands, taking out loans at usurious rates of interest. Many money lenders charge 10% compounded monthly. Yup, you got that right. The debt load increases exponentially. People borrow money to migrate in order to repay the debts they have already incurred.

A few days ago a feminist colleague here posted a statistic about unwanted pregnancies among girls: over 100,000 in 2018 alone (this from a report published on the Human Rights Ombudsman's webpage). The overwhelming majority of pregnancies among girls under the age of 15 or 16 is rape or incest and often both -- young girls are subject to sexual assault by their older brothers, cousins, uncles, fathers, stepfathers. I was stunned by the statistic. I work on sexual assault asylum cases and I've read the affidavits of women and girls who have detailed how their male relatives abused them, often threatening them with physical harm if they told any. Other relatives often discredit the girls' accounts if they do dare to "tell". So the girls learn to hide their pain and keep their stories of rape and violence to themselves. When they become pregnant -- as many obviously do; no one is using condoms when they rape a child and clearly no child is in a position to demand that one be used, presuming that she even knows the basics of human reproduction -- they are sometimes kicked out by their families.

The case of the 43 girls who died in the Hogar Seguro (ironically, "Safe Home") fire -- a shelter for abandoned, runaway, or "problem" girls -- on International Women's Day in 2017 is another instance of the state being incapable or unwilling to protect its citizens, including the most vulnerable. Short history: the shelter was notorious for poor treatment of the girls and boys interned there(lack of recreation and educational facilities -- it is supposed to be a shelter, not a prison), and there were numerous complaints of sexual abuse, dating back at least to 2013. None of the residents had criminal charges against them, but were in the facility for a variety of reasons. Some of the young people staged a breakout on March 7. They were captured and returned; the staff locked some of the girls into a very small space known as "the school" as punishment and to prevent another breakout. The facility's staff called President Morales to inform him of the situation. On March 8, International Women's Day, the residents had planned to protest the physical and sexual abuse but a fire broke out. The firefighters were not able to gain access because there were locked doors. Several girls were already dead by the time authorities were able to get in, and others died in the hospital from burns and CO2 poisoning. 

The tragedy led to a series of protests, since many hold the state accountable for what happened -- for not investigating several years' worth of complaints about sexual abuse and other mistreatment of minors in its tutelage, for not holding the facility's staff accountable (which contributed to a climate that gave license to the staff to lock the girls into a small space, which they somehow were then unable to unlock when a fire broke out???). #FueElEstado (it was the state) was the slogan of the subsequent protests.

So, if the state cannot protect its own citizens, if it cannot provide potable water, education, health care, employment and security to its own citizens, what can it possibly provide to Hondurans and Salvadorans escaping similar situations in their own countries?