Officials attached to successive US administrations for
decades have tormented, terrorized, and destabilized peoples and countries, forced
mass displacement of hundreds of thousands of people; and after having destroyed
people’s homelands, cultures, countries’ manufacturing base and economies—the
tormenters then demonize and disparage people they have “forced” to migrate.
The terminal destabilizing forces then complain bitterly, brutally, and continuously
about “forced” migrants’ attempts to enter the destroyer’s homeland, and to work
for slave wages (suffering further abuse and threats of deportation) harvesting
the destroyer’s food (sold back to migrants’ countries), and doing the
destroyer’s dirty work: cleaning toilets, risking loss of freedom and life
itself “serving” in the destroyer’s relentless acts of aggression throughout
the world.
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he UN office for refugees reported this past spring that refugees
and migrants of various nationalities have been crossing the Darien Gap for
years but recent times have seen a dramatic increase in forced migrants risking
their lives traversing this perilous terrain and conditions.
The Darien Gap marking the border between Colombia and
Panama is “one of the world’s most dangerous refugee and migrant routes, consisting
of 5,000 square-kilometers (5,000 square kilometers = 1,930.5108 square miles) of
tropical wilderness, steep mountains, and rivers.” The crossing can take 10
days or more on a journey that exposes people not only to natural hazards; but
to the deadly attack of criminals, sexual abusers, and robbers.
Notwithstanding the dangers, the pandemic era saw record
numbers of people risking their lives traversing the dense jungles between South
and Central America. In 2021, an estimated “133,000 people” made the trek.
Among them were people and nations US officials have been strangling for years:
Haitians, Chileans and Brazilians; Cubans and Venezuelans; and large numbers of
people from Sub-Saharan Africa, Central and Southern Asia.
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anctions kill, force people from their homelands, and kill
again.
Since the early twentieth century, US officials have been strangling
other countries with “sanctions” that have included restrictions on financial
instruments and affairs, restrictions on trade and economic assistance; and while
the US has free and reckless rein, controls on exports of various forms of
technology and weaponry (i.e., restrictions of free enterprise). In the current
century, US officials have wielded sanctions amounting to acts of war.
Twenty countries, since 1998, have been subjected to US strangling “economic” sanctions. As of 2020, the US was imposing sanctions on
North Korea, Cuba, Iran, Syria, Venezuela (country and individuals), Bangladesh, Belarus, Central African Republic, China, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Hong Kong, Iraq, Lebanon, Liberia, Mali, Myanmar (Burma), Nicaragua, Russia, Somali, South Sudan, Turkey, Ukraine (individual citizens of Russia, Ukraine, Crimea), Yemen, Zimbabwe.
The combined US Departments of Treasury, Commerce, and State reportedly list embargoes against countries or territories of Afghanistan, Belarus, Bolivia, Cambodia, China, Crimea, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, Laos, Nicaragua, North Korea, Palestine, Russia, Syria, Venezuela, Yemen, and Zimbabwe.
Al Jazeera reports Panamanian statistics showing that “in
the first two months of 2022, approximately 2,500 Venezuelans crossed the
Darien Gap.” In the whole of the previous year, “2,819” Venezuelans traversed
the jungle pass. The United Nations refugee agency reported the total number of
people from various countries crossing the dangerous jungle area between
Colombia and Panama was “8,456 in the first two months of 2022” contrasted with
“2,928 in the first two months of 2021.”
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iven US and US-led relentless malicious aggression (plus a
global health emergency), it is quite natural that greater and greater numbers
of people would flee their homelands. US-Mexico border patrol reported that, in
February of this year, the daily crossing of migrants (those they stopped) was
roughly 7,000.
Press TV reported on August 12, 2022 (insult on top of injury)
that US entities have detained and harassed Venezuelan passengers and crew; and
commandeered a Venezuelan plane.
“Venezuelan delegation protests seizure of plane in Argentina on US diktat.” https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2022/08/12/687230/venezuelan-delegation-protests-seizure-of-plane--us-request-argentina
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riminal Malice
“The seized plane first entered Argentina on June 6 (2022)
carrying auto parts from Mexico. As it was unable to refuel in Buenos Aires due
to US sanctions, the plane left for Montevideo two days later. But Uruguayan
authorities refused to give it access to its airspace, forcing it to fly back
to Argentina. An Argentinian judge, Federico Villena, passed a judgment to
detain the aircraft to investigate the crew of 14 Venezuelans and five
Iranians.
“The judgment was passed on the instructions of the US, claiming that the laws were broken when the aircraft was sold by Iran’s Mahan airlines to Emtrasur, which is controlled by Conviasa.”
Other sources
UNHCR Press Release “Number of Venezuelans crossing the Darien Gap soars” March 29, 2022
https://www.unhcr.org/uk/news/press/2022/3/6243298f4/number-venezuelans-crossing-darien-gap-soars.html
“United States Sanctions,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_sanctions
Al Jazeera “Number of migrants crossing dangerous Darien Gap soars: UNHCR
UN refugee agency says number of people taking Panamanian jungle route tripled so far this year compared with 2021.” https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/29/number-of-migrants-crossing-dangerous-darien-gap-soars-unhcr
Copyright © Carolyn LaDelle Bennett
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