“The language used to frame Central American immigrants as threats to American security can be identified as a part of a dangerously preemptive discourse that shapes news coverage through a set of militarized parameters. Once a security discourse is engaged, it quickly defines the terms of media debate, directing what will and and will not be covered, what information can be included, and what must be left out.”
Dr. Robin Andersen, Media, Central American Refugees and the U.S. Border Crisis.
Northern Triangle:
El Salvador: Civil War (1979-1992) News Coverage
As discussed in the What Led Us Here? Section, El Salvador descended into chaos due to the U.S. backed Civil War (1979-1992). To provide a historical context on how El Salvador worked pre-coup, we need to talk about the legacy of colonialism that left Central American countries controlled by economic elites. The Salvadoran oligarchy, the small group of families who controlled the country’s wealth, survived and grew richer because of their willingness to make alliances with the armed forces.
The October 1979 coup was advertised as the rise of a “reform-minded moderate, centrist, civilian/military junta”, when in reality these were only labels. The junta never materialized as centrists. The civilians and progressive thinkers in the junta found it impossible to control the military’s right-winged elements. Human rights abuses and violence continued, the civilians eventually realized that their influence meant nothing for the military and paramilitary groups ran wild. Eventually, the civilians resigned as a sign of protest and the conservatives regained control of the country leading to years of military repression of any opposition.
Media representation of the Junta at when they came to power:
The State Department in Washington said the leadership appeared centrist and moderate…
- NBC, October 16, 1979
Three civilians considered sympathizers of the moderate opposition party were appointed to serve on the junta…
- CBS, October 18, 1979
The media went on to list the civilian members’ credentials and emphasize on the moderate side of the junta. By the end of December 1979, most of the civilian members had resigned and this was simply not reported in any American news outlet. For American television viewers, these events never happened, as time went by reports kept emphasizing on the left opposing the moderate junta, which by then was controlled by the conservatives. Even after more resignations the reports were:
“The leftists oppose the moderate junta which took power here last October.” – NBC, February 19th, 1980
The reports that covered the protests at this time had footage of people running from sniper fire, tear gas, corpses on the streets in a very documentary camera style. Having these images while lacking the background information to frame the context, made the conflict in El Salvador seem like it was initiated by the left and their unwillingness to follow the right-winged military government.
Honduras: Increasing Poverty one of the Effects of the 2009 Coup of State
What difference did the Honduran coup make? There was certainly no golden age in Honduras before 2009 against which to measure it. The coup precipitated a rapid downward spiral that cast the Honduran people into a maelstrom of repression, violence, and increasing poverty. The post coup regime destroyed the rule of law and gutted the country’s welfare state – indeed, the state itself. It paved the way of spectacular corruption and the free reign of gangs and organized crime. The murder rate shot to the world’s highest. The democratic space for freedom of speech and association tightened like a noose. In response to their country’s devastation, hundreds of thousands of Honduras fled the country and traveled north in the worst of dangerous circumstances. The 2009 coup had an enormous and terrible long-term impact on the Honduran people. – Dana Frank in her book The Long Honduran Night What difference did the Honduran coup make? There was certainly no golden age in Honduras before 2009 against which to measure it. The coup precipitated a rapid downward spiral that cast the Honduran people into a maelstrom of repression, violence, and increasing poverty. The post coup regime destroyed the rule of law and gutted the country’s welfare state – indeed, the state itself. It paved the way of spectacular corruption and the free reign of gangs and organized crime. The murder rate shot to the world’s highest. The democratic space for freedom of speech and association tightened like a noose. In response to their country’s devastation, hundreds of thousands of Honduras fled the country and traveled north in the worst of dangerous circumstances. The 2009 coup had an enormous and terrible long-term impact on the Honduran people.
Dana Frank, The Long Honduran Night
Most media reports we see nowadays keep it short and simple in regards to the economic reasons of why people flee Honduras or the Northern Triangle due to poverty. “They want a better life” or “people want to avoid starvation” and it ends there, without any further context of why the country suffers from poverty and violence. During the Presidency of Manuel Zelaya Rosales, reforms towards improving conditions for lower income sectors were made, he increased the minimum wage 50% and small businesses had started to thrive. He also helped small farmers reclaim land and stopped power/land grabs by the Honduran elite. At the end, his leftist ties to the Venezuelan and Cuban governments fueled the media as being the only reason why the coup was necessary. The U.S. backed coup was condemned by many countries, but the U.S. government as stated in the previous section.
After the post coup government came to power shortly after, the coup’s perpetrators started stealing broadly from the Honduran state starting with the teacher’s fund. The subsequent governments of Robert Michelleti, Porfirio Lobo Sosa and the current U.S. backed dictatorship of Juan Orlando Hernández have destroyed much of the functioning state and somewhat modest economy of the country. In the meantime, the elite continues to thrive and the rest of the population descends into a violent state that unables many to make a living. Honduras has become a narco-state heavily run by a corrupt government, law enforcement and organized crime all of which perpetuate violence and poverty in a now even more militarized country.
A harsh critique by Latino Rebels about what happened at this time:
“Most Americans were glued to their TVs, computers and smartphones in late June 2009, though few people knew about the concurrent coup in Honduras, much less had an opinion. It wasn’t the death of democracy in Honduras they were concerned about then, but the death of a beloved singer.
Under the banner of the war on drugs, the U.S. government has increased military aid and training in Honduras in the years since the coup, providing hundreds of millions of dollars to a regime known to use death squads and attack defenseless campesinos, LGBT rights supporters, child advocates, political opponents and other critics of the regime. All the while the American people never paid Honduras any mind, which ensured that the U.S. government would never be held accountable for any of it.
Still, it’s clear that the current refugee crisis was made possible only by the complete and willful ignorance of the American people. I say “willful” because most Americans have purposefully avoided learning anything about Central America, much less Honduras. The military coup came and went, and most Americans viewed it as they do disturbances in Sub-Saharan Africa — being of no importance or consequence to the United States and its way of life.”
Guatemala: Tracing back Violence against Indigenous People
Guatemala has battled with resource extraction since colonial times, during the 19th Century the United Fruit Company controlled most of Latin America, especially Guatemala. The U.S. kept increasing interest in Guatemala during the Cold War to eradicate the threat of communism backing oppressive regimes leading up to a Civil War for 36 years (1960-1996). President Efrain Rios Mott was one of the worst perpetrators of mass disappearances and murders that eventually mounted to genocide. The U.S. neglected this information at the time and President Reagan at the time prided himself of his relationship with Rios Mott. The following video details the extent of the atrocities, the U.S. knowledge of them and how the media was clueless about it before the declassifying of documents during the Clinton Presidency.
Mexico: The One-dimensional Coverage of the Mexican War on Drugs
The story of Mexico in U.S. media is mostly a one-dimensional account of the horrific drug war. Some journalists, like Michelle Garcia are critical towards the media coverage: “Rather, I detect enduring assumptions that govern our coverage of Mexico—what’s perceived as good for the U.S. is portrayed as good for Mexico. To wit, if the U.S. interest is clamping down on the supply of drugs reaching American streets and nightclubs, then calling out the military is a wise policy decision for Mexico. Such a simplistic calculus ignores the fact that narco-trafficking is a firmly entrenched and complex organism that exists for a range of economic, social, and political reasons. For the most part, the horror and gore of drug-cartel violence has seized the press’s attention.”
President Felipe Calderon launched the War on Drugs with the Merida Initiative as previously stated in the What Led Us Here? Section, started this initiative in part to legitimize his government and deviate attention from allegations of corruption.
In the U.S., the Bush administration (and then the Obama administration) praised Calderon for his commitment and efforts in the battle. This narrative was continuously enforced in news articles and in editorials urging U.S. intervention:
“Mexican President Shows He Can Lead; Election Crisis Fades”—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, March 25, 2007
“Mexican president Felipe Calderon has been brave enough to try to wrestle back control of his country”—San Francisco Chronicle, May 13, 2008
“U.S. Bolsters Security at Mexican Border”—The New York Times, March 25, 2009
“The United States has a vested interest in seeing Calderon succeed”—San Antonio Express-News, August 15, 2009
More than 10 years after the drug war started, reports have been published on human rights abuses and the consequences of increased militarization. Unfortunately, the dominant narrative in the media has been to depict the more sensational aspects of the drug violence (Tv Shows, gruesome videos on social media), focusing on body counts and decapitations, thus ignoring a number of relevant questions that would have framed the story much differently especially regarding immigration.
