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81. The Politics of Pineapple: Examining the Inequitable Impacts of Southern Costa Rica's Pineapple Industry

Author:
Jennifer Brown, Tara Flint, and Jessca LaMay
Publication Date:
05-2020
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Public and International Affairs (JPIA)
Institution:
School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA), Princeton University
Abstract:
The Global North’s growing demand for fresh pineapple has created a system that is disproportionately profitable for companies and consumers in those countries to the detriment of people living and working in the Global South. Since the mid-1980s the Pineapple Development Corporation (PINDECO), a subsidiary of U.S.-based Del Monte, has established a monopoly over fresh pineapple exports in southern Costa Rica. We conducted pilot research in the municipalities of Buenos Aires and San Isidro del General in 2019, where the majority of PINDECO’s production takes place. PINDECO and the Costa Rican state claim pineapple production is beneficial to national development through its contribution to Costa Rican gross domestic product and employment opportunities, but our research and recent data reveal that in pineapple producing areas in the southwest, poverty levels remain high with worsening water and food security despite PINDECO’s large profit margins. There are numerous human and environmental health concerns linked to pineapple monocropping. Intensive pesticide use often utilizes chemicals that are banned or restricted in the countries they are imported from. PINDECO has been able to evade responsibility for environmental damages and social welfare obligations to employees while maintaining a largely positive public image through a lax regulatory environment and extensive subcontracting structure. This article connects regional socioeconomic issues to the intricate power dynamics and collusion between industry and state. The findings suggest that Costa Rica is not as environmentally conscious and sustainable as its public image portrays, with pockets of profit-driven industries taking precedence over community well-being and environmental sustainability.
Topic:
Agriculture, Economics, International Trade and Finance, and International Development
Political Geography:
South America, Central America, and Costa Rica

82. The Intersection of Poetry and U.S.-Mexican Border Affairs in Natalie Scenters-Zapico’s “Lima :: Limón”

Author:
Gabriel Panuco-Mercado
Publication Date:
01-2020
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Georgetown Journal of International Affairs
Abstract:
Natalie Scenters-Zapico is a poet from the United States-Mexico border towns of El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. Her work, like her origin, is about borders. In her debut collection, The Verging Cities, Scenters-Zapico explores immigration, marriage, and femicide in the realm of border culture and identity [1]. She expands these themes in her second collection, Lima :: Limón, where she creates a scathing depiction of the brutal machismo that conditions a Mexican woman’s experience. Lima :: Limon is especially personal to Scenters-Zapico. Her lyrical passages draw from the music of her childhood. In an age where distorted narratives about immigration lead to family separation and threaten asylum seekers, Lima :: Limon’s intimacy is especially critical. Unlike the efficacy of border policy or trade negotiations, Scenters-Zapico’s personal narrative is undeniable—as are the harrowing experiences of millions of Mexican women.
Topic:
Immigration, Women, Borders, and Literature
Political Geography:
Central America, North America, Mexico, and United States of America

83. Deportation Contagions

Author:
Jorge E. Cuéllar
Publication Date:
03-2020
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Abstract:
In the age of COVID-19, anything other than ending deportations is a high-risk, potentially disastrous move.
Topic:
Migration, Immigration, Public Health, Asylum, Pandemic, and Deportation
Political Geography:
Central America, Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador

84. Blurring the Division Between Church and State in AMLO’s Mexico

Author:
Madeleine Olson
Publication Date:
02-2020
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
Abstract:
As AMLO faces pressure to enact his campaign promises, he increasingly turns to his religious base.
Topic:
Religion, Democracy, Christianity, Catholic Church, and Nation-State
Political Geography:
Central America and Mexico

85. Virus-proof Violence: Crime and COVID-19 in Mexico and the Northern Triangle

Author:
International Crisis Group
Publication Date:
11-2020
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
As the coronavirus rages in Mexico and the northerly Central American countries, criminal outfits have adapted, often enlarging their turf. To fight organised crime more effectively, governments should combine policing with programs to aid the vulnerable and create attractive alternatives to illegal economic activity.
Topic:
Crime, Violence, Public Health, Pandemic, COVID-19, and Organized Crime
Political Geography:
Central America, North America, and Mexico

86. Defending the Right to Health in Guatemala: Reflections of Two Indigenous Women on the Frontlines

Author:
Benilda Batzin, Paulina Culum, and Julia Fischer-Mackey
Publication Date:
04-2020
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Accountability Research Center (ARC), American University
Abstract:
The Guatemalan Constitution guarantees the right to health for all Guatemalans, but indigenous citizens face multiple barriers in accessing public health services. In addition to the transportation challenges and under-resourced facilities faced by rural communities around the world, indigenous Guatemalans face racial and linguistic discrimination and corrupt officials demanding fees for free public services. Two organizations that formed to combat these problems are the Center for the Study of Equity and Governance in Health Systems (Centro de Estudios para la Equidad y Gobernanza en los Sistemas de Salud, or CEGSS) and the Network of Community Defenders of the Right to Health (Red de Defensores y Defensoras Comunitarios por el Derecho a la Salud, or REDC-Salud). REDC-Salud volunteer health defenders educate citizens about their rights, provide accompaniment to patients, monitor health services, and advocate for health system improvements. The CEGSS team provides technical support and capacity building to REDC-Salud members and coordinates monitoring and advocacy at the municipal, departmental and national levels. In the following interview excerpts, Benilda Batzin of CEGSS and Paulina Culum of REDC-Salud describe how they work together to make government health systems more accountable to all citizens. Benilda and Paulina’s unique approach involves mobilizing established community leaders to engage on health access issues at multiple levels of government and forming alliances with groups including the national Human Rights Ombuds. As Maya Tz’utujil women from Sololá, Western Guatemala, Benilda and Paulina faced multiple barriers to civic participation and leadership. And yet, their commitment to bringing positive change to their communities have led them to initiate and join organizations and acquire new skills. Those skills and leadership qualities have been widely recognized and resulted in formal and informal opportunities to lead: Benilda was elected by her colleagues to become Executive Director of CEGSS and was invited to give testimony at the United Nations General Assembly; Paulina chairs her town’s Community Development Council, has served as the national chairperson for the Tz’utujil Women’s Organization and mentors young female activists. This Note highlights strategies and accomplishments of these leaders and their organizations while reminding us of the work yet to be done by activists and their allies to defend the rights of all Guatemalans.
Topic:
Women, Accountability, Indigenous, Public Health, Community Engagement, and Activism
Political Geography:
Central America and Guatemala

87. Mexico and Central America: A Delayed Encounter | México y Centroamérica: encuentro postergado

Author:
Luis Rubio, Gustavo Mohar, Salvador Arriola, Jorge Durand, Joaquin Villalobos, Ursula Roldan, Yolanda Gonzalez Cerdeira, Carlos Quesnel, Demetrios G. Papademetriou, Oscar Chacon, Marco A. Alcazar, Beatriz Zepeda, Carlos Heredia, and Mauricio Reyes
Publication Date:
12-2019
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Mexican Council on Foreign Relations (COMEXI)
Abstract:
The surprise arrival of massive migrant contingents (known as “caravans”) to the border between Guatemala and Mexico constituted a watershed in the history of Central American migration to the United States through Mexican territory. This text is published by the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations (COMEXI) in order to contribute to the discussion in Mexico, in the United States and in Central America itself. The contribution of Central American social activists and academics with their local perspectives enhances and complements their Mexican counterparts’ reflections and proposals. Now is the time to undertake concrete measures for this delayed encounter. /// La sorpresiva llegada a la frontera entre México y Guatemala de grandes contingentes de migrantes (conocidos como “caravanas”) marcó un parteaguas en la historia de las migraciones procedentes de Centroamérica con destino a Estados Unidos, que utilizan suelo mexicano como territorio de tránsito. El Consejo Mexicano de Asuntos Internacionales (COMEXI) publica este texto para abonar a la discusión interna en México, así como a la que tiene lugar tanto en Estados Unidos como en la propia Centroamérica. La contribución de académicos y activistas sociales centroamericanos, con sus puntos de vista locales, enriquece y complementa las reflexiones y propuestas de sus contrapartes mexicanas. Es momento de asumir acciones concretas a este encuentro postergado.
Topic:
Migration, Immigration, and Borders
Political Geography:
Central America, Mexico, and United States of America

88. Fleeing Violence in Central America: Time to Implement Canada’s Resettlement Policies

Author:
Rachel Kiddell-Monroe and Celine de Richoufftz
Publication Date:
12-2019
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Institute for the Study of International Development, McGill University (ISID)
Abstract:
Canada should take proactive and concrete actions to protect Northern Central American refugees fleeing violence including: Implementing its policy to offer resettlement to Central American refugees caught in legal limbo in Mexico. Ensuring it welcomes asylum seekers who are at risk under the US immigration system. Supporting Northern Central American states in their efforts to build fairer and more efficient immigration systems. Advocating for safe passages, legal pathways and for an end to the criminalization of clandestine immigration.
Topic:
Immigration, Border Control, Refugees, Violence, and Asylum
Political Geography:
Central America, Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador

89. Biopolitics and Necropolitics on the Northern Border / La biopolítica y la necropolítica en la seguridad ciudadana de Tijuana

Author:
R. Guy Emerson
Publication Date:
06-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal on International Security Studies (RESI)
Institution:
International Security Studies Group (GESI) at the University of Granada
Abstract:
This article explores the functioning of citizen security. It is developed with reference to the initiatives in Tijuana, Mexico, and reveals how citizen security operates through technologies that simultaneously generate both compatible citizens and abject non-citizens. Both groups become an integral part of citizen security and operate within a logic through which one tries to ensure the life of the former (biopolitics) and the exclusion of the latter is generated (the necropolitics). From biopolitics, the population is understood through surveillance measures that allow the accumulation of information and the analysis of data. These concern the observed patterns of behavior within this population, with the aim of managing random events and populations outside of what is empirically normal. These abnormal populations are then regulated through initiatives composed of the National Program for the Prevention of Crime (PRONAPRED), with the purpose of giving them certain life skills to overcome their risk situations. On the other hand, non-citizens are treated based on an exclusionary inclusion (the necropolitics). In practice, this implies that the non-citizen population is seen as an object of hierarchical surveillance. The latter is designed to regulate movement and limit the danger that these non-citizens represent for public safety. Similarly, non-citizen individuals are marginalized to the extent that their inclusion in the PRONAPRED security programs makes possible their eventual expulsion from Mexico. Thus, the article concludes that citizen security determines and exacerbates the citizen / non-citizen distinction, a distinction that can mean life or death.
Topic:
Security, Citizenship, Biopolitics, and Necropolitics
Political Geography:
Central America, North America, Mexico, and United States of America

90. Contraband, Drug Trafficking and the Configuration of Institutional Circuits for their Protection in Mexico / Contrabando,tráficodedrogasylaconfiguracióndecircuitosinstitucionalesparasuprotecciónenMéxico

Author:
Carlos Antonio Flores Pérez
Publication Date:
06-2019
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Security Studies Group (GESI) at the University of Granada
Abstract:
In this article analyses the evolution, throughout the XX century, of criminal networks that had participation in illicit trafficking goods and illegal psychoactive drugs- in the Mexican states of Nuevo León and Tamaulipas, in the border with Texas, United States. Based on the information contained in government documents found in the General Archive of the Nation (AGN) of Mexico, federal criminal courts of the United States and newspaper sources, I show the central role played by federal and state institutional actors to consolidate these networks and their illegal activities through the guarantee of impunity. These actors, along with their partners in the business and criminal fields, set up institutional circuits to protect such traffics and allow the integration of illicit capital in the formal economy.
Topic:
Crime, Narcotics Trafficking, Economy, and Capital Flows
Political Geography:
Central America, North America, Mexico, and United States of America