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The Good Cripple and The Violence in Guatemala- Final Essay

Chavarria, Cristian

CAS: Approach to Writing 115

Professor Fonseca

Final Essay

12/10/13

The Good Cripple and the Violence in Guatemala

Rodrigo Rey Rosa’s The Good Cripple is a very scenic demonstration of the violence in Guatemala. During the 90’s the violence in Guatemala increased to incredible numbers, and now the violence is an everyday issue Guatemalans have to deal with. The violence in Guatemala is mostly consisted of gangs like the unscrupulous Mara Salvatrucha and Eighteen Street gang. But many other gangs consist of group of criminals that look for potential victims in the public and kidnap them in order to ask for ransom money in exchange for the freedom of the victims. In the novel The Good Cripple by Rodrigo R. Rosa the main character Juan Luis Luna is abducted by a group of people who ask for a ransom of a million dollars. The act of kidnapping and asking for ransom money depicted in the novel are not only fiction but it is also a representation of the everyday life in Guatemala. After the kidnapping and the amount of ransom money was asked, the kidnappers got their money and one of them threw a grenade to the rest of the kidnappers that were inside a Jeep, and they all perished; and the one who threw the grenade went away with all the ransom money. The actions portrayed in the novel resemble many acts of violence that have been occurring with more frequency in Guatemala. Many Guatemalans do not feel safe in their places of work, in their homes, nor in the streets of Guatemala due to the harsh fact that they can be kidnapped at any moment. The kidnapping problems in Guatemala go way beyond being a crime; the kidnapping crimes have revealed a long history of corruption within the armed forces like the PNC (Policia Nacional Civil) or police force of Guatemala.

And the corruption connects with the kidnappers and the violence to create a state of chaos within Guatemala. But Guatemalans must deal with the violence since their local authorities seemed to be corrupted and the violence increase and Guatemalans are not able to leave due to high costs and dangerous processes of migrating illegally to the United States. In other words, just like Juan Luis Luna always returns to Guatemala in the novel; Guatemalans must return to their jobs and their routine lives in order to provide and help their families survive. The violence in the novel can be seen in Guatemala as gangs ask business owners for money for their protection and if denies this owners can experience death or kidnapping of a loved one and thousands of this cases are carried out through Guatemala with no police action as a response. In the documentary Alma a Tale of Violence a gang member named Alma explains how gangs operate and how kidnapping is a source for them to get money and that death of the victims is most likely to occur.

“Les davamos dinero,mota, y crack y ellos nos dejaban ir.” As explained by Alma in Spanish; the gang members that would be apprehended by the PNC had an easy way out by offering money and drugs as a bribe to the officers of the PNC, and most of the officers would take the bribe. The documentary is just another source to have a stronger connection of the novel to the actuality of Guatemala. The crimes in Guatemala have become kidnapping and killing for money, just like what had occurred in the novel by Rodrigo R. Rosas.

Rodrigo R. Rosas’ novel depicts a violent Guatemala that has people who commit murder and many other atrocities for money and vengeance, but it also shows the hidden aspect that comes along with a violent nation. The hidden aspect that violence brings upon the people is fear, a fear of speaking out due the violence that can be brought to them or their loved ones. This violence that Rodrigo R. Rosas’s novel depicts is the cause for the fearful Guatemalan population that allows crimes to become part of their daily lives. In the novel a grenade is thrown to a moving car that explodes and kills all the people in the car, but no one says anything nor do they dare to mention that someone threw a grenade, and that is the fear that the Guatemalan people have today in their gang violent country, the same violence and fear that Rodrigo R. Rosas portraits in his novel The Good Cripple.

Citation

Dewever, Miquel, dir. Dir. Plana Fougere, and Isabelle Fougere. Alma, A Tale Of Violence . Arte Upian. VU: 15 05 2013. Web. 10 Nov 2013. <alma.arte.tv>.

jackiefiggy

What do you guys think is the main point Rodrigo Rey Rosa is trying to make?

chavacris7

I think his main point revolves around the tragedies that have become Guatemala's daily life, like crime, dysfunctional families, feminism, and corruption.

Final essay

What do you guys think about the meaning of violence in the Good Cripple?

Prospectus for Banana Industry Project for CAS100

Effects of the involvement of the Banana Industry in Guatemala Prospectus

INTRO: For our final group project we have focused our research on the effects that the Banana Industry (United Fruit Company) has caused in Guatemala. The effects of the Banana Industry can be seen in the politics, economics, and the environment issues of Guatemala, affecting the everyday lives of the locals.

The thesis we intend to develop is as follows:

The Banana Industry has had a very important impact in the politics of Guatemala. Due to the external debt, the foreign investment that the Banana Industry made in a Guatemala gave the foreign investors the power to manipulate the politics and Guatemalan politicians. As known by history, the Guatemalan people suffered a dictatorship that was brought upon by the foreign investors as the land used for the banana plantations were threatened by a socialist president that was kicked out of office by military force. Howard Zinn in “A People's History of America” discusses the manipulations done by the Banana Industry and how it affected the Guatemalan population, specifically the poor.

Another point we researched on was the environmental affect that the Banana Industry had the tropical land of Guatemala. Chapman, Peter’s “Bananas: How the United Fruit Company Shaped the World” argues how the Banana Industry destroyed acres of tropical land to settle their banana plantations, and how this caused a great shift of the ecosystem, causing many animals to be extinct like the armadillo that once was found in flourishing numbers in the high lands of Guatemala. He also contributes to our research by pointing out the violation of human rights that were violated, and how it all turns out to affect the economy of the locals by out-competing the local fruit growers; this also caused an unbalance of the social economic standard, leaving more poor people to suffer.

Knowledge is our most powerful weapon, what we need to continue walking the harsh road that is known as life, educate yourself not only with books,but with experiences, life lessons, and the most important of all, the humanitarian expression we all need, love.

The beautiful land that is now being destroyed by the foreign investors who only want the natural resources that weak nations, like the ones in Central America, provide.

The Discontent of the Guatemalan people.

-The clear sign of the discontent of the people with the decision of the court that favored Rios Mont is visible in the capital city of Guatemala.

-A busy morning at one of Guatemala's most important agriculture city, Jalapa.

( June 2013, by Cristian Chavarria)

The Violence against Indigenous People’s Sequel

The violation of human rights and the violence that occurred during the 1980’s in Guatemala and El Salvador was as inhumane and brutal as the genocide of the indigenous people in the sixteenth century carried out by the Spaniards. During the sixteenth century the indigenous people were deprived from their civil rights, they were massacred, forced to slavery, and brutal acts of torture in public. The violence and violation of their rights were justified by the so called just war which is a justification of why the atrocities were committed. The Spaniards justified their inhumane actions by saying that they were leading the indigenous people to the path of God, and that they were civilizing; them referring to the indigenous people as if they were some sort of non-humans. The Spaniards would torture and kill the indigenous if they were to resist to the forced introduction of Christianity, they were also enslaved and denied their freedom due to the belief of the Spaniards, a belief that consisted of Spaniards being the supreme race which had to civilize the rest of the world by some divine obligation. All the atrocities were committed towards the indigenous people, and as we all know, history repeats it’s self. In Guatemala and El Salvador in the 1980’s civil wars were occurring; this was a time of militarization of the governments which lead to outbursts of civil rights violations, crimes, and it was all committed by the military. The violence and violations continued in order to justify the process of modernization of the young Central American republics. As the Spaniards ignored the brutality with which the indigenous were being treated, the governments and high military authorities of both Guatemala and El Salvador denied and ignored the atrocities that were being committed at that time. In other words, the brutality and violations were the same, and they both left a dark stain in the history of Central America.

The violence during the 1980’s impacted the lives of the indigenous people from Guatemala and left their people with a past that was denied, a past that needed to be looked at again to learn from it; exactly the same way the past from the atrocities the Spaniards committed needed to be looked at to learn the truth and give the indigenous people justice. During this civil war time in Guatemala, the indigenous people were taken away from their land, cases of rape of the women were witnessed; murders in mass scale were done by the military. One of the few indigenous people who were able to speak out the truth to the people of Guatemala and to the world was Rigoberta Menchu. She was an indigenous woman who suffered the violence of the militarized government of Guatemala. She was part of los companeros who were organized indigenous peasants who peacefully protested against the actions of the Guatemalan government. The peasants who were united were mostly from El Quiche, one of the areas with most indigenous population concentration in Guatemala, and that is where most of the repression was concentrated. Rigoberta’s dad with other companeros invaded the Spanish Embassy during a peaceful protest, and these peaceful protest became a mass murder constructed by the military of Guatemala, and it was all portrayed as if the protesters were armed and dangerous when all they ever fought with were rocks and at times machetes, just the same way indigenous people fought against the Spaniards in the 16th century. “Some were gunned down in other places after the embassy events. The G2 and the police stormed the embassy. There were a lot of journalists there, in fact, because of the solidarity work of other companeros. They say that the police threw bombs, or I don’t know what, at the embassy and it started to burn. (Central American Studies-pg.85)

During the protest of the Spanish Embassy all the indigenous protestors were burn alive, one of them survived and was taken to safety by the rest of the protesters who did not invade the embassy. The survivor was taken to a private hospital to keep him safely away from the hands of the inhumane military. “He was the only one who might have told what really happened. But later he was kidnapped from the hospital from the hospital by armed men, men in uniform who just calmly took him away. The next day he was left in front of San Carlos University: tortured, with bullet wounds, dead. So the government itself had not allowed this companero to live.(Central American Studies-pg.85)” Publicly demonstrations of torture were done to inject fear to the indigenous organized people of Guatemala the same way Spaniards did when the indigenous people would not accept Christianity. Guatemala was not the only nation who suffered from the inhumane acts of their government, El Salvador had a scaring time during the 1980’s too. During this time El Salvador went through a civil war were many of their people were killed, tortured, and scared for life. Over 1000 civilians were murdered by the military in many cases like El Mozote and Morazan. In the cases of violence in El Salvador villages were eradicated by the Army, some details that were published by the New York Times showed the world the horrendous civil rights violations as well as the international crimes that were being committed by the Salvadoran Army. People in villages were rounded up, men, women, children were all separated into groups, the groups were enclosed in a building or surrounded in an open area, the villagers were at times tied up and laid flat on the ground, and then showered with bullets from the Army. In one of the massacres a pregnant woman was found, and another inhumane and evil fact is that most of the civilians who were killed were children. People were tortured as the indigenous people of Guatemala were, and torture is a crime towards humanity. According to the Human Rights Education Associates torture is the top level of a scale that could be imagined to measure the violation of human rights. Torture is a serious violation of human rights and is strictly prohibited by international law. As the use of torture strikes at the very heart of civil and political freedoms …(Torture, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment 1-2)”

The brutality of the Army can be compared to the acts of the Spaniards, they were both inhumane violations of human rights, and also international crimes, crimes that were known to the world and justice was never a point made by any of the governments from the young Central American nations mentioned in this essay. Anyone who interfered or showed any sign of being organized to protest was immediately kidnapped and later appearing with signs of torture and bullets in their bodies. What more inhumane can all these acts committed by the armies of Guatemala and El Salvador get? There is no scale to measure the scaring it caused in the people of these nations, scars that are now looked as dark periods in Central America the same way the way the discovery of America is looked at by some scholars and educated population.

The Central American nations of Guatemala and El Salvador had a repetition of violation of rights and international crimes to humanity during the civil wars in the 1980’s. These violence and brutality once happened during the arrival of the Spaniards to Central America, an eradication of the indigenous people was once again committed in these nations. Now the people have all learned the truth about the inhumane acts committed during the two dark ages of Central America, and the two atrocities committed can be compared in brutality, numbers of violation to all human rights, and crimes such as murder that were all justified by both the Spaniards and the Guatemalan and Salvadoran Army. The justification given should be looked at and ridicule for the ignorance that they think the people have, but the truth was visible thanks to those who fought for their rights, those who were brave to step up and speak out, and challenge what was said to let the world know the truth. Central America has witnessed twice in their history brutality, violence, torture, and crimes that shall be defined as “genocides of the poor and indigenous people of Central America”.

SOURCES

Golden, Tim. "Accord Reached to Halt Civil War in El Salvador." New York Times January 1 1992, early ed.Print.

Figueredo Planchart, Reinaldo, and Thomas Buergenthal. "From Madness to Hope." From Madness to Hope :The 12-year war in El Salvador: Report of the Commission on the Truth for El Salvador 1 The Commission on the Truth for El Salvador . (1993): 18-31. Print.

Torture, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment." Human Right Education Associates. Web. 17 Oct 2013. <http://www.hrea.org/>.

Cortez, Beatriz, and Douglas Carranza Mena. Central American Studies. Revised Printing. Dubuque, Iowa, USA: Kendall Hunt , 2008. Print.

Central American Markets & Home Sickness (Essay 3)

Central American Markets & Home Sickness

Visiting a Central American market can be a great experience for someone who is not from that region of Central America. The experience can be created by viewing the different types of fruits, vegetables, and spices that are rarely seen in any other type of markets. Central American markets’ employees tend to be from the region of Central America and speak Spanish. The Central American markets (stores) in the United States serve our communities as a window to the diversity in Central America, allowing those who have been away from home due to the migration to the North to have an opportunity to feel like home, and relief any home sickness that can be felt by Central Americans. Central America is a very diverse region with a tropical climate and Mayan influenced culture. Throughout the region of Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and the rest of the nations; many fruits and spices that can only be supported by a tropical climate ,flourish and become part of the everyday lives of the locals. Besides the goods, Central American nations have many festivities that are of a big importance to their people, and not being able to enjoy the festivities or activities that they were used to experiencing back at home can make anyone homesick.

Guatemala is a region with a tropical climate and an important Mayan influence. As explained in “Countries of the World: Guatemala” the locals view and describe their country as the land of the eternal spring. Being away from the land of the eternal spring, a land where one is used to the climate can be very difficult to overcome. In this region many tropical fruits flourish like the Dragon fruit which is a fruit likened in flavor to a mild kiwifruit and guayaba fruit. The Dragon fruit guayaba and can be found at many Central American stores. Guatemalans also enjoy a rich culture filled with festivities that involve family activities. “They often gather together for weekend meals and fiestas-villages parties…Guatemala (40).” In the United States distances between cities is much larger than in Guatemala, there for, traveling to meet relatives can be more a hassle rather than a joyful family trip. Also many families get separated by the need to migrate to the United States for a better life. With the struggles to spend the family time that Guatemalans enjoy back at home and the separation of families due to migration to the north, the local Central American stores offer foods, candies, and souvenirs that could only be enjoyed at the local fiestas in Guatemala. By selling local Guatemalan products and traditional foods that can only be found during fiestas in Guatemala, the Central American stores allow the Guatemalans in the United States a chance to feel like home once again. Two of the most known family activities of Guatemalans are the travel to Esquipulas where the biggest catholic church of Guatemala is located, and the catholic holy week. As children and adults many Guatemalans lived these festivities and family time every year. During the time of these two special festivities schools are closed for a week, many people get their vacations from their jobs, and the whole time is dedicated to family time. The local Central American stores offer live streaming of the holy week processions, and dishes like torrejas, pescado forrado, and pescado seco which are all foods that can only be found during the holy week of the catholic church.

In the nations of Central America the produce are from local growers, creating a very healthy and fresh market of fruits and vegetables. “Traders sell fruit and vegetables harvested fresh from the hills. Guatemala(47)” In other words, having fruits and vegetables that are in the everyday market of Central America gives an open window for those Central Americans in the US to look through and revive some imagery that would be common to them back home, and is now rare to find in the new place they live in. In the Central American stores music, art, and traditional hand-made crafts can also be found. The environments of the stores are enlightened with marimba music, Punta, and other types of music that tend to be heard by people in Central America. The walls of the stores are filled with scenic pictures of the beautiful landscapes found throughout Central America. All the music and scenic landscapes pictures depict a home like feeling for the Central Americans that miss their home land. Everyone can be home sick and adapting to a new place can be very difficult due to the need of what one was already used to, and to what one had called home for so long. But to feel like home every Central American should visit a Central American store. Another example can be the products like tortrix chips, cola champagne, and pan dulce; all products that can make any Central American revive old childhood memories, and feel a bit less homesick.

The stores that feature Central American goods will have a flower izote which can only be obtained during the late summer and early fall days here in the US. The flower comes from the yucca plant and it can be found in many trees around Los Angeles. “El Salvador’s national flower is izote, from the yucca plant. El Salvador Enchantment of the World (27)” The izote flower can be found in any Central American store, but people in the US see it as a simple plant, but to Salvadorans and Guatemalans the izote flower is a delicious food. The flower can be found cooked with traditional spices that can make any Salvadoran and Guatemalan have a delicious meal and a feeling of being back home.

Being away from home can be very difficult and moving to a new place implicates having to adapt to a whole new way of living and at many times causing home sickness. But to those Central Americans who feel home sick a visit to a Central American store can be very helpful. These Central American stores feature many products that can only be found in Central America, scenic view pictures, hand-made crafts, music, traditional dishes, and many other goods that can make any Central American feel like home. Feeling home sick is a common problem with those who migrated north, but the Central American stores in our communities give the home sick an opportunity to relive childhood memories with the special products they sale, and helps them feel like home with the music, and recordings of national fiestas that they show in the store’s monitors.

Citation Page

Croy, Anita. Countries of the World: Guatemala. Washington D.C.: National Geographic, 1999. Print.

The Good Cripple and the Violence in Guatemala(Essay based on Rey Rosa's novel "THE GOOD CRIPPLE"

The Good Cripple and the Violence in Guatemala

Rodrigo Rey Rosa’s The Good Cripple is a very scenic demonstration of the violence in Guatemala. During the 90’s the violence in Guatemala increased to incredible numbers, and now the violence is an everyday issue Guatemalans have to deal with. The violence in Guatemala is mostly consisted of gangs like the unscrupulous Mara Salvatrucha and Eighteen Street gang. But many other gangs consist of group of criminals that look for potential victims in the public and kidnap them in order to ask for ransom money in exchange for the freedom of the victims. In the novel The Good Cripple by Rodrigo R. Rosa the main character Juan Luis Luna is abducted by a group of people who ask for a ransom of a million dollars. The act of kidnapping and asking for ransom money depicted in the novel are not only fiction but it is also a representation of the everyday life in Guatemala. After the kidnapping and the amount of ransom money was asked, the kidnapers got their money and one of them threw a grenade to the rest of the kidnappers that were inside a Jeep, and they all perished; and the one who threw the grenade went away with all the ransom money. The actions portrayed in the novel resemble many acts of violence that have been occurring with more frequency in Guatemala. Many Guatemalans do not feel safe in their places of work, in their homes, nor in the streets of Guatemala due to the harsh fact that they can be kidnapped at any moment. The kidnapping problems in Guatemala go way beyond being a crime; the kidnapping crimes have revealed a long history of corruption within the armed forces like the PNC (Policia Nacional Civil) or police force of Guatemala.

Citation

Dewever, Miquel, dir. Dir. Plana Fougere, and Isabelle Fougere. Alma, A Tale Of Violence . Arte Upian. VU: 15 05 2013. Web. 10 Nov 2013. <alma.arte.tv>.

Involvement of the EE.UU. In Central America

Throughout history many nations have gone beyond their borders to help those nations in political and economic distress. These nations have helped built other nations’ political structure, have spread democracy, and have westernized today’s third world nations. The actions of the modernized nations can be viewed as a helping hand, as the mission that all of those who have a better life are sent out for. The help to the third world nations can be depicted as a humble citizen helping out the one in need; but the third world countries tend to be rich in unexploited natural resources, and that is all an expanding nation needs to be interested in helping out the nations in need. The United States of America has been the nation that likes to give out a helping hand, a very humble act the public might say, but the EE.UU. has other reasons and interests when a helping hand is stretched out to those nations. The idea of imperialism started as the nation started to expand and have growth in population, economic, and political influence all after the independence on 1776. As stated in the “Gospel of Democracy”, the founders of the independence of the United States which in other words were the few, the rich, the elite group in power; those founders always had in mind to become the center of a system which would become the strong force to spread wisdom and fight against the despotism of the old world. After these ideas of imperialism, a Doctrine was later brought up and introduced to the nation. The Doctrine which was born from the influence of those minds who sought imperialism as their way of helping out the others, that Doctrine was the Monroe Doctrine. The Monroe Doctrine stated the involvement of the United States with other nations as manifest destiny, the idea that a strong nation’s mission to civilize and modernized others for the sake of humanity. All the ideas presented above are what sparked the United States to get involve with nations all around the world, but the main reasons for the help to those nations were not humanitarian reasons. On the contrary, the United States helped and got involved internationally for economic reasons, reasons that can be looked at as natural resources which were not being exploited for economic reasons in those third world nations, and as political power that could be useful for expansion and domination of the global economy.

According to article “The Gospel of Democracy” the United States saw their intervention to those who were missed governed as an opportunity to be free and climb upward to a higher scale of humanity. The words stated as opportunity and help were not what the people of Central America saw when the United States intervened in their political issues. The United States recognized these newly independent nations and the recognition came with diplomatic cooperation to the favor of the imperialist northern nation that is The United States of America. One of the Central American nations that suffered from the imperialism of the United States is Guatemala. Guatemala is a nation rich in natural resources and rich soil which is able to make mass production of Bananas, Coffee, and other natural products that the United States’ soil cannot produce due to the non-tropical climate in the region. As Howard Zinn depicts the events in his book “A People’s History of the United States”, the intervention of the United States was a mirage for the public. The United States’ government saw their interests in Guatemala threatened by the new Socialist president. The United States took advantage of the Socialists ideas of the new government, and with that as an incriminating fact, they labeled the new government as a communist dictatorship. The new government was viewed as a communist dictatorship due to the new government actions of nationalizing what was controlled by the United States in Guatemala which was the United Fruit Company (now known as Chiquita), and that action meant millions of American dollars were at stake and in risk of being out of the reach of those foreign investors. The United States took quick actions in response, they had the CIA instigate a rebellion to newly established government, Jacobo Arbenz and his leftist government was overthrown on 1954.

The United States had ignored the previous humanitarian violations done by Jorge Ubico as long as the United States’ investments were not at risk as described by Juan Gonzales in his book “Harvest of Empire: a History of Latinos in America”.

“Ubico forced Guatemala’s huge population of landless Mayans to work on government projects them to work for the big landowners. As for Ubico’s penchant for jailing opponents and stamping out dissent, Washington simply ignored it so long as U.S. investment in the country flourished”(135). The United States had no humanitarian reason for the intrusion to Guatemala, yet their actions only lead to the assurance of their investments in the flourishing Banana land. The military actions and the instigation for a rebellion to the leftist government was the leading push for the civil war in Guatemala as the author Juan Gonzales describes it. And today those who escaped from Guatemala and looked for refuge in the United States; those individuals who were affected by the imperialist actions of the United States, those victims were denied the well deserved right to be in this nation as refugees. On the other hand the Cuban refugees are welcomed with open arms, a very unfair act from the North American government; but this can be understood by the facts that those who fled Cuba at the beginning of the revolution were investors who couldn’t flourish in Cuba due to communist government. But those who fled from Guatemala were poor and middle class people whose lives were at risk while the investments from the United States were well protected.

The imperialist nation of the United States has been involved with Central America with policies like the policy of the good neighbor, policies that have the United States able to lend money to the Central American nations, actions that allow the United States to have the Central American governments in their hand. Another nation depending of the United States policies is Costa Rica. Costa Rica is known as a nation of paradise, a destination for a peaceful vacation to people all around the world but especially to the citizens of the United States. From that economic stand point, Costa Rica will tend to follow demands and allow any actions of help to its government by the United States. Costa Rican’s economy prevails in the tourism and investments of the United States, so any involvement from the United States has no humanitarian reason, but a strong imperialist reason. The views of the United States’ government keep the idea of survival of the fittest, as presented by Arturo Arias, the strongest nation must dominate the area and expand their so called empire, influence and construct their government in coordination to their own.

In The Gospel of Democracy a well known professor of Columbia University stated, “Out of all inhabitants of the world, the Saxon, as the white man are superior race in political capacity, that leading to the white man’s mission, his duty, his right to hold the reins of political power in his own hands for the civilization of the world and the welfare of mankind.” The statement above explains the view that the United States has when lending a hand to the Central American nations. More examples can be brought up from the history of Central America. In Panama, the United States was able to instigate revolutions which lead the independence of Panama from Colombia. After Panama was independent, the United States became very involved with Panama, recognized their independence and invested in their land. Panama became the place of investment for a new canal that would open the doors for a more massive exportation and importation of goods, goods which would increase the profits of the investors in the United States. The canal was located in Panama, ran by the locals, but all profits were being received by the foreign investors, specifically from the United States.

Another nation that suffered the imperialism of the United States was Nicaragua; the Nicaraguans suffered a full scale intervention from the United States. The United States sent Marines to crush the rebellions of the Sandinistas, took the Sandinistas away from power, and oversaw the elections which were obviously won by the handpicked politicians that supported all United States’ policies in Nicaragua according to the author of “The Gospel of Democracy”.

The non humanitarian actions of the United States towards the Central American nations can be felt through the poem titled “To Roosevelt” by the Nicaraguan author Ruben Dario.

In his poem the author talks about the point of view the Nicaraguan people have towards the involvement of the United States in Nicaragua. “You think that life is one big fire, that progress is just eruption, that wherever you put bullets, you put the future, too.” The poem by Ruben Dario depicts the truth behind the actions of the United States towards Central American nations.

The involvements of the United States in the Central American nations have no humanitarian value, no truth to back up any actions that were taken by the United States. The goals of the United States were to prevent the development of natural wealth by the locals, control of the Panama Canal, and the prevention of influences that would cause a resurrection of a socialist government that would interfere with the investments of the United States in the region of Central America. As depicted by Howard Zinn, Ruben Dario, Juan Gonzales, (author of Central American-Americans?), and (The Gospel of Democracy) the United States has never had any humanitarian interest in Central America; the only interests in the region have been the expansion of foreign business, political control of the region, and the control of the region’s unexploited natural resources.

CITATION PAGE

Howard, Zinn. A People's History of America. New York, New York, USA: HarperCollins Publishers, 1995. Print.

Gonzalez, Juan. Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America. New York: Viking, 2000. Print.

Dario, Ruben. "Selected Writings." Trans. Array Introduction to Central American Studies. . Revised Printing. Dubuque, Iowa, USA: Kendall Hunt, 2008. 62-63. Print.

Arias, Arturo. "Central Americans-Americans? Latino and Latin American Subjectivities." Central Americans-Americans? Latino and Latin American Subjectivities. 184-200. Print.

Great Sources for Essays

Flory Ramirez, Oscar Ayala, Cristian Chavarria CAS 100 Professor Rojo 11/19/13 Annotated Bibliography Chapman, Peter. Bananas: How the United Fruit Company Shaped the World. New York, New York,USA: Canongate , 2007. Print. Chap man's book is an extensive research with reliable sources like visiting the places where the Banana Industry was operating, interviews with the local workers, and insight information of the politics during that era. The Banana industry according to Chapman and many other researchers, took a massive chunk of natural resources and it exploited the soil and the local workers of Central America; focusing on Guatemala. The foreign investment interfered with the politics, economy, and the local social development of Guatemala. The interference allowed the United Fruit Company to violate many human rights, manipulate the politicians, and destroy the environment of rich soiled grounds in Guatemala. According to Chapman the act of imperialism by the United States on its neighboring countries left a big mark on many nations, but the damage to Guatemala will always stand out due to its magnitude in environmental damage. Howard, Zinn. A People's History of America. New York, New York,USA: HarperCollins Publishers, 1995. Print. Howard Zinn’s book on the real truth behind the United States’ concerning home and foreign affairs is a very reliable source for students looking into having a strong source for their research. Zinn’s discusses the imperialism ideas and ways that the United States used to take political and economic control of Guatemala with the United Fruit Company. The effects on the Guatemalan politics and economics show the detailed imperialism that the United States practiced freely in a foreign ground, Central America. · Gonzalez, Juan. Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America. New York: Viking, 2000. Print. Juan Gonzales discusses the history of foreign involvement in Central America and parts of South America from a humanitarian point of view. Politics and Economics are discussed in his book, and these topics are linked with the humanitarian issues in the countries of Central America, mostly focused in Guatemala. The most important foreign investment according to Juan Gomez is the one from the United Fruit Company, and its economic and political is felt strongly in Guatemala, and this issues bring the creation of Gomez’s book. Gibney, Mark. "United States' Responsibility for Gross Levels of Human Rights Violations in Guatemala from 1954 to 1996." Journal of Transnational Law & Policy, 7 (1997): 77-181. The banana plantation industry in Guatemala has increased the violations of human rights and Gibney goes back to the formation of the United Fruit Company as the culprit and later companies such as Chiquita and Dole. Gibney in his article discusses the involvement of the United States behind these violations which is key to understanding what is going on in Guatemala during these times of corruption with United Fruit Company. In the article the acts of torture and repression to the people of Guatemala are discussed as well as other factors of what the banana industry became known for within Guatemala. The author emphasizes on the United States being a culprit behind what is going in Guatemala and through the source Suzanne Jones, Gibney is able to provide outside information and research from Jones to bring this article into context and helps answer questions such as: What human rights were violated?

Grade concern !!!!! 😠

Moodle seems to not be working, so how am I suppose to turn in my work, this better not affect my grade.

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