One solution to growing immigration: Support more self-sufficiency

By Sher Davidson

The headlines are full of the immigration issue — how to stem the tide of people coming over our borders, especially from our neighboring countries to the south.

I wonder how many people stop to question why a poor campesino would choose to leave the security of his family, his village and the familiarity of his culture to come here and live, in almost equally unbearable conditions to those he has left. The life of an undocumented worker is not easy or with luxury. Most work for low wages relative to the U.S. cost of living. They must share small lodgings, often sleeping on the floor with minimal comforts. I know. I have delivered mattresses and furniture to some. The immigrant feels like an outsider in a culture which is not always welcoming.

Why then does he endure this? How many of us fail to “connect the dots,” to recognize that he comes here, in part, because of the last two decades of failed U.S. “neo-liberal” economic policies vis-à-vis Latin America, namely so called “fair trade” policies and privatization. These policies have not improved the conditions of the largest percentage of the poor in Latin America — instead more have become poorer. Remember the promises of the NAFTA promoters saying it would be good for everyone, but in the end who profited most? It certainly did not help the poor independent Mexican farmers — more than 1.5 million have lost their farms and have had to move to the city where they live in “casas de cartones” (cardboard houses) and work in sweat shops for bare minimal wages. They could not compete in the global marketplace with the subsidized corn crops the U.S. exports. Yes, it was good for our large agri-industries but not “fair” to the Latinos. This is just one example of how U.S. policies have exacerbated the growing poverty in the south and forced many to seek a better living here risking the illegal border crossing and mean living conditions.

What is the price these immigrants pay for the “privilege” of risking their lives, leaving all they know behind, to live as second class citizens here? My visit last year to El Salvador helped me “make the connections” when I saw the suffering caused to whole communities when the men felt they had no choice but to leave and seek higher wages in the North. Families separated over long periods of time collapse. Wives, without husbands, children without fathers, slip into despair. As mothers grow dependent on the often, abusive “sanchos” as the so called friends of their husbands, who have promised “to take care of the family, are called. Young daughters move out and submit to prostitution to help the family; boys join gangs as they seek something they can’t replace — their fathers.

What are the solutions? The issue is complex, to be sure. Besides putting pressure on our representatives to look more closely at the long range effects of our “fair trade” policies, are there other more novel solutions? While in El Salvador, I witnessed one of these: the drive for more self sufficiency. Small communities are organizing projects, and seeking micro-financing by NGO’s (non-governmental organizations) such as the Foundation for Self Sufficiency in Central America founded by Jose “Chencho” Alas, 13 years ago, right after the Peace Accords were signed. Alas is a former priest exiled here during the El Salvador civil war when his life was threatened and his good friend, the late Archbishop, Oscar Romero, urged him to leave the country after he was tortured. Romero knew his days were numbered having seen his name on a death squad list.

Recognizing that the government in El Salvador, still controlled for the most part by the right wing oligarchy, the Arena party, would not do a lot to improve the lives of the poor, Alas set out to help the people develop the skills and understanding to become more self sufficient. Through new farming methods like diversification of crops, drip irrigation, organic gardening methods and micro-financed small chicken farms they are supporting their families. At the same time, Chencho worked to help reconcile the opposing forces occupying the rich agricultural lands of the Bajo Lempa region at the mouth of one of Central America’s longest rivers. Today, ten years later the region is known as the “Zone of Peace”, inpired by Chencho and due to the grassroots local organizing group, known as the Coordinadora.

Portlanders have an opportunity to hear more about how they can support these efforts when Chencho and the new director of the Foundation for Self Sufficiency, Ike Trevino, visit here from April 30-May 4. There will be a special benefit welcome event, “Growing Peace,” sponsored by the Portland Central American Solidarity Committee and co-sponsored by St. Andrews church on April 30 from 6-8:30 pm at St. Andrews Community Center at 806 NE Alberta. Come enjoy El Salvadoran music, food and art and hear more about how the Zone of Peace in El Salvador is seeking its own solutions to reduce the flight to the North. You can also learn how you can help and about how you might go on a delegation to El Salvador.

Sher Davidson is a member of the board of the Portland Central Americ Committee (PCASC).