Female Bylines

« Grim Life of Outcast Children | Main | First EU Mention of ‘Kurdish Issue’ in Reference to Freedom of Expression »

November 17, 2008

The High Cost of Violence in Central America

by Andrea Domínguez, Comunidad Segura, Brazil - Violence in Central America cost approximately $6.5 billion in 2006 - equivalent to 7.7% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) - according to the results obtained by a study called "The economic costs of violence in Central America " (Los costos económicos de la violencia en Centroamérica), conducted by the National Council for Public Security (CNSP) of the office of the President of El Salvador.

Comments (1)

The problems plaguing Central America as well as Colombia are spreading across the US. The power of well armed, extremely violent drug cartels and their gangs is not just going to disappear without the concerted effort of citizens wherever such murderous profiteering arises. I place much of the problem straight on the heads of the US military/industrial complex that has always valued money over human life and dignity. The escalated violence of the cartels is directly related to the hiring of mutinous troops from Mexico and Guatemala. In the case of Mexico, many of Los Zetas are graduates of the School of Assassins in Fort Benning, Georgia, who have taken control of many Mexican cartels. The Kaibiles were trained by US Marine Special Forces and are notorious for their extremes of brutality, including the hacking open of pregnant women then smashing the fetuses. They also have been working with the cartels and both these vicious groups are spilling into the US.

What troubles me very deeply is that the United Nations has hired Kaibiles as Peacekeepers in the Congo. Just wonder what influence they have had on the terrible major mistreatment of women and girls in that resource rich region being genocided out of existence like so many other nations plagued with free trade narce profiteering.

Americans are the most privileged, apathetic people on earth and what will we do to put a stop to so much of the violence that can be traced back to the military madness right here? What will we do, is what i think of daily........

In peaceful struggle,
swaneagle harijan

Leave a comment

BYLINE PORTAL

At What Price Foreign Policy?

by Natasha Mozgovaya, Haaretz, Israel - A $4.2 billion lawsuit based on a testimony of a disgruntled employee reveals a scheme to obtain GSM license...

Her Bill of Writes

by Garima Jain, Tehelka, India - A domestic worker by day, and acclaimed author by night, Halder first claimed the spotlight in 2006, with the...

How Do I Deal with a Bully, without Becoming a Thug?

by Scilla Elworthy, TEDxExeter, UK - "We can organize to overcome oppression by opening our hearts as well as strengthening this incredible resolve."...

AU Election Test of Africa's Unity and Commitment to Equality

by Saeanna Chingamuka, Gender Links, South Africa - The implementation of the AU Gender Policy at this years' elections is crucial to the achievements of...

Euro 2012: A Victim of Power Games

by Jagienka Wilczak, Polityka, Poland - With less than a month left to go before the kick-off of the Euro 2012, the fate of opposition...