a reply to:
bigfatfurrytexan
Hey BFFT! How goes it?
Odd you should mention them as "refugees", because that is apparently the status being given to the recent influx of unaccompanied children. They are
being herded to "refugee resettlement centers". Oddly, however, these kids are in the vast majority NOT Mexican - they are from Central America,
predominantly El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala.
I have a soft spot in my heart, or maybe my head, for that area, having once been a refugee into Honduras (out of Nicaragua), and not getting killed
for it. Years ago there was major turmoil in that area, and I reckon it's just never ended, only the players have changed. To be honest, it was that
evil CIA that hauled me out of Tegucigalpa and back into the US (although the guy who did the magic of producing paperwork out of thin air never
admitted to being CIA, probably for a variety of reasons). Anyhow, the Hondurans were, for the most part, nothing but nice and hospitable. They helped
me out, so I've got no problems returning the favor.
I have ties to the Hispanic community to this day, and a soft spot for them. Most don't know why, nor do they need to. We just get along, and that's
enough. I was talking to a girl from El Salvador yesterday, and mentioned the refugee kids, and asked her why they are all of the sudden flooding in.
At first, she said it's because "they're poor", and I laughed and said they've ALWAYS been poor, so what's changed? She finally said "It's getting
BAD", to which I responded it's ALWAYS been bad ( I know the area, and I believe she's for one has figured out why, but she rarely brings it up), and
at last she said "Marasalva Trucha", which explained a lot to me. It has apparently gotten so bad in her village that her grandmother... let that sink
in, her GRANDMOTHER... can't even safely cross the street.
Evidently the gangs and cartels are taking over the ENTIRE area, not just Mexico, and are networking. I've got reports some time back from the part of
Nicaragua I was in (Bonanza/La Rosita area) that there are roving gangs of looters and generally miscreant highwaymen around, making even the trails
in the jungle dangerous for the average Joe (or Jose). They said the highwaymen were leftovers from the wars, which isn't unusual - look at the
history of the US immediately post Civil War, and you'll find the same thing. War brings out a class of men who know nothing else when it's over, and
so employ the only trade they've ever learned. Even I fell into that trap for several years after my wars, making a living carrying a gun, but as an
armed guard rather than as a robber.
Some times, the badge is the only real difference.
Anyhow, she has 3 cousins that are coming up to get away from it. Two are eligible for paperwork, one is not. I plan on doing what I can to fix that
paperwork problem, returning a favor done me long ago, by a stranger. Once upon a time, I thought I could fix the whole world. I got beat down pretty
good, and figured out that I can't. What I CAN do is help out fixing one life at a time.
It ain't much, but we do what we can. Better to bring them here and settle them in than to go back down there and fight that goddamned dragon on it's
own turf again.
Kudos to the militia on the border - keep having at it, and stop that dragon from getting here... because when it sets up camp HERE, there ain't going
to be anywhere else to run to.
edit on 2014/6/25 by nenothtu because: spelling