After years of assumptions that the sociopolitical turmoil, specifically in Honduras, has been solely a product of its own governance, a new bill this year in the United States congress is picking up speed to shift the conversation. Congressman Hank Johnson, along with the support of 43 colleagues such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, introduced the bill H.R.1945, or the Berta Cáceres Human Rights in Honduras Act (BCHRHA).
If passed, the bill would suspend U.S. military aid, including training and arms, to Honduran security forces, as well as “discourage multilateral development bank lending until the Honduran government investigates and prosecutes those in the military and police who have violated human rights” and “human rights defenders are protected.”
In support of this bill, Los Angeles-based organization CARECEN held a congressional briefing this month, in which a “panel of legal & policy experts, directly impacted asylum seekers & human rights observers” briefed officials on the enabling of human rights violations in Honduras by U.S. funding and military aid.
The language being used in the bill and by the representatives is less apologetic to the Honduran government than it is to the U.S., avoiding a clear sense of responsibility from the U.S. government and making the suspension of military aid clearly temporary, but it is an important milestone nonetheless.
Harmful U.S. Intervention in Central America
While H.R.1945 is focused on military aid in Honduras, U.S. military aid and intervention strategies in the region have often been linked to either promoting trade agreements/tax incentives and/or stopping the so-called spread of communism. This is one of the reasons why Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador were dubbed the “Banana Republic”; by the1930s, The United Fruit Company, (a U.S. brand now known as Chiquita Brands International) owned 3.5 million acres of land across Central America, exploited for the export of America’s favorite fruit: bananas.
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