Meddling by United States cost much in Guatemala
by Edward Barlow, letter to the editor

Recently the Immigration Service raided a large meat packing plant in nearby Postville, Iowa. They arrested many undocumented workers for Social Security and passport fraud. Some of them were Mayan Indians from Guatemala. So, why were these Mayans in the United States? What is their history?

In July 1954, the United States overthrew the democratically elected president of Guatemala and replaced him with a military dictator. He had redistributed unused land of United Fruit, an agribusiness, to poor people.

To make Guatemala safe and profitable for foreign investment and agribusinesses, the United States then helped train, finance and advise the Guatemalan military and paramilitary death squads that had killed more than 200,000 Guatemalans — mostly Mayan Indians. More than 600 villages were completely destroyed; much of their land taken from them; and upwards of one million became refugees. A peace treaty was finally signed in December 1996. Graves are still being discovered.

On March 11, 1999, President Clinton went to Guatemala, acknowledged and essentially apologized to the people for the role the United States had in these massacres. Clinton assured them it would never happen again. He said there would be no reparations, but now they can have freedom, democracy, capitalism, access to "global markets" and U.S. friendship. He said violence never solves anything. Ironically, two weeks later Clinton ordered the 79-day humanitarian bombing of the people of Serbia.

Further, rich people, landlords, foreign investors and investor driven agri-businesses said they could put Indian land and labor to better use. They will give them farm labor jobs to help grow crops for export on the land that once sustained them. Or they can move to cities, live in slums and work in factories at very low wages and no benefits manufacturing "stuff" for export. However, today there are way too many workers and returning refugees and not enough jobs. So what is one to do, or where is one to go, if one desperately needs to work?

If the "news media" used more history in their articles, or if people knew more history behind the news, there would be a much more sympathetic and "understanding" attitude toward the laborers and immigrants who come to this country.

Finally, it seems that "immigration" is not a much-discussed issue by the presidential candidates; nor is our foreign policy toward Latin America. Why is this?

Edward Barlow
Viroqua, WI
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