IRTF News

The last week of October was a win for 40 farm workers who were victims of forced labor in Florida. 

The workers were lured in to gag contracts by the international labor contracting company Los Villatores Harvesting LLC (LVH) who promised the desperate Mexican workers the American Dream jobs on farms in the United States. The Mexican guest worker program is essential for U.S. farms and its economy and provides "guest worker visas" (H2 visa) to thousands of workers. This creates opportunities for exploitive labor and a position of power. LVH used this power. It provided workers the H2 visa against a fee of up to $2,000 promising a refund once their victims arrived in the U.S. The refund was never paid; instead the workers were stripped of their passports and forced to work under inhumane conditions while being threatened with arrest and deportation by their employers and held in debt by LVH. 

This horror finally ended when two workers escaped in the trunk of a car and called the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), a worker protection coalition, who contacted authorities and together with federal agencies and the CIW Anti-Slavery Program uncovered the criminal enterprise. 

Following this investigation, the human trafficking task force stopped this exploitation in its tracks and brought four members of LVH to court. So far the criminal trial led to three sentences.  

The bookkeeper, manager and supervisor Christina Gamez was sentenced to 37 month in prison.

The second supervisor and manager Efrain Cabrera Rodas, a Mexican citizen, was sentenced to 42 months in prison after he made false statements to federal investigators.

A third supervisor, Guadalupe Mendes Mendoza got off with 8 months in home detention.

LVH owner Bladimir Moreno's trial is still ongoing. He pled guilty and will be sentenced on December 28. 

Although this is good news. The Coalition of Immokalee Workers stated that many more foreign workers are still oppressed and exploited under the H2 program. The CIW calls for labor rights enforcement and retail and food companies to commit to human rights standards monitored by workers. Furthermore, the CIW provides the Fair Food Program, helping thousands of workers to fight for their rights. 

We have reported on the Salvadoran gang crackdowns before, with information on mass arrests, hearings and institutional violence on the streets and in prisons. But what is the outcome of these extreme practices? This Small Wars Journal article by Jonathan D. Rosen provides a deep dive into the effects of the authoritarian policies. 

The ongoing crackdown is far from the first in El Salvador's history. These radical measures were first implemented by former president Francisco Flores early this century, appealing to the public demand for security. In 2004, President Tony Saca doubled down on the totalitarian approach. Neither of them were very successful, instead fueling a spiral of violence and gang membership. In 2009 the public passed on the torch to left-wing politician Mauricio Funes. Funes started a new approach to combat gang related crime. He negotiated. All tough homicide rates dropped during his time in office. Funes lost his authority in 2014 when his vice-president, Salvador Sánchez Cerén, assumed the presidency.  Following Sánchez Cerén's election, homicide rates skyrocketed to an unheard of 100 per 100,000 habitants in 2015. The re-rising of violence was a perfect legitimization for the reintroduction of iron fist ("mano dura") policies.  In 2015, the Salvadoran Supreme Court voted to label gangs as terrorists, allowing for the deployment of the military and marking gangs as the number one security threat for the country's security. 

In 2019, Salvadorans elected populist candidate Nayib Bukele as their new president. It was a choice based mainly on the ongoing violence and his declaration to keep up the radical anti-gang policies. Bukle delivered.    In June 2019 he brought forward his territorial control plan, increasing police and military  presence in areas known for heavy gang activities.  In addition to his crackdown approach, Bukele secretly negotiated with MS 13, Salvador's most powerful gang. After journalists revealed this, institutional attacks on the press became routine.     

Following a spike in homicides in March 2022, the Bukele administration declared a State of Exception (regímen de excepción), which has been extended several times. This hardline approach has not delivered the promised effect.   In May, the gangs struck back, killing more than 60 people in a single day. A direct message to Bukele. 

But what are the consequences of this crackdown policy? 

The expanded State of Exception has led to over 50,000 arrests. A institutional signal that "the government is winning." In actuality, this is an ongoing circle of arrests, releases and re-arrests. This mass incarceration has caused overcrowded prisons, which now act as "schools of crime," enabling gangs to better organize. Gangs build their own institutions within the prisons, which today are seen as the epicenter for gang activity. No wonder, considering that the Salvadoran prison population has grown from "only" 7,754 in 2000, to 37,190 in 202o, the highest population per 100,000 in the world. One can only guess today's number. 

The demand for security leads to a race to the bottom among politicians, ignoring alternative measures like prevention, rehabilitation and reintegration without which the underlying issues can not be solved.

Although the mass arrests and decrease in homicides may appeal to the political base, other crimes like forced disappearances and violence against specific groups are ignored. Women, in particular, are endangered, as they are treated as property. 

Besides the iron fist policies, Bukele plans to stay in power by running for president once more, in direct violation of the Salvadoran constitution.

In sum, the crackdown has created many harms, leading to overcrowded prisons and oppression by security forces while failing to reduce violence and gang activities. 

The problem with gang membership will not be solved without addressing its root causes--something that is impossible with the current heavy-handed approach.   

For 13 years, the U.S. supported the violent and oppressive coup dictatorship in Honduras.                                                                                                                                           

Finally in November 2021 the people of Honduras held elections and their first female president, Xiomara Castro, came out as the winner.

Shortly after she took over the presidency in January 2022, Castro began the restoration of democracy in her country and worked to minimize the U.S.'s influence.                                                                             

Not even a year after the electi0n, on October 25 the US restarted its interference in Honduran internal affairs, aiming to undermine the new government and its policy agenda.  US Ambassador Laura Dogu as well as U.S. senators are proactively acting to delegitimize the government by vocally criticizing new labor laws and changes to the Honduran energy sector. Many supporters of former right-wing President Juan Orlando Hernandez are echoing Dogu and the senator's statements while calling for a new coup against the just-elected Castro presidency.

The Honduras Solidarity Network and IRTF are raising their voices against attempts to push Honduras back towards the past!

Finally our October Migrant Justice Newsletter is up. 

Read it now on our blog https://www.irtfcleveland.org/blog/migrant-justice-newsletter-october-2022

The indigenous people of  Sonsonate in western El Salvador are bundled with daily struggles. Commercial farming damages their homeland and privatizations strip them of basic needs like water. 

Women especially are suffering under these circumstances. 

In 2017 the New Dawn Association of El Salvador (ANADES) founded their Agroecological School, teaching indigenous women their ancestors' way of farming, using native crops and to work in harmony with the environment. Besides the practical training, the program includes theoretical classes, reflecting on the oppression with which the women are confronted every day. Together they analyze structures like capitalism, colonization and patriarchy. 

The program helps communities and families to become financially independent while saving the environment and building an economy benefiting all. 

More than a 1000 Honduran construction workers building the new U.S. Embassy complex in Tegucigalpa, Honduras have been on strike for over 4 months now. They are demanding fair payment,  a safe workspace and for the contractor to respect their human rights.  The state and the construction company are reacting with all of their power, firing strike leaders and bringing in riot police, tanks and sharpshooters. Learn how you can support the striking workers in the article below.