Borders are concepts which encompass and exclude. They exist everywhere. Some are literal visible physical lines whereas others go beyond sight and exist in terms of characteristics such as monetary wealth, or even humanity. Over time these boundaries are redefined and in turn change the flow of daily life for the individuals they effect. In many cases it is the powerful governments which are in control of the pen which outline these symbolic and physical lines. However as history can prove even though it is these powerful governments which give definition to these borders, it is very often them (the governmental officials) who are the ones who cross them.
This hypocritical characteristic is blatantly apparent in regards to Central America. Both the ruling elite and the United States government has infringed upon the many levels of borders which exist in this part of the world. Numerous atrocities have been committed, thousands of lives have been shattered, countless victims have suffered all due to lack of respect for the borders which exist. All levels have been touched; political, economic, and even human. No outline is safe from being infringed upon or even shattered in Central America.
While many of us may point fingers it is indeed our very own United States government which has not respected the political borders present in this part of the world. We have stepped into territory in this area that we have no business being involved with. Under our government’s supervision, the CIA carried out a coup in Guatemala in which it installed a self-perpetuation pro-American gang of military criminals who have held power for almost forty years. Their reproductive mechanism has been murder of hundreds of thousands of Guatemalams. After this unnecessary interaction of the CIA, US national security planners saw "Cuba as a highly inflammable element which unchecked, could spread communism - now interchangeable with revolution" (Landau 30). In response to this President Eisenhower ordered the CIA to repeat its ‘success’ in Guatemala. "Throughout the continent, US police and military advisers worked with torturers, murderers and Fascists to repress not only revolution, but all forms of democracy" (Landau 31). Our government officials have such extreme fears of the uprising of the poor in these nations that it did not care out of place it was to get involved. Their economic investments and trade guided our foreign relations. They would enter and cross the borders of this seemingly innocent third world section of the continent and intervene regardless of the fact that they did not belong there in the sense that it is not thier country and should not be involved.
The United States-Mexico border represents a microcosm, a cross section of humanity's downtrodden being met with beuracratic, neo-liberal policies and an utter indifference to life itself. A modern version of David vs Goliath plays out along these lines day after day and while the border may seem well-defined, the laws, regulations, and enforcement patterns surrounding it are amorphous at best and murderous at worst. De León heavily takes into account how the environment plays a key role in not only the mortality rate of migrants but also how it becomes a breeding ground of extrajudicial activity. He mentions "The isolation of the desert combined with the public perception of the border as a zone ruled by chaos allows the state to justify using extraordinary measures to control and exclude “uncivilized” noncitizens" (2). There is a concerted effort by border officials to
As stronger nations exercise their control over weaker ones, the United States try to prove their authority, power and control over weaker nations seeing them as unable to handle their own issues thereby, imposing their ideology on them. And if any of these weaker nations try to resist, then the wrath of the United States will come upon them. In overthrow the author Stephen Kinzer tells how Americans used different means to overthrow foreign government. He explains that the campaign & ideology of anti- communism made Americans believe that it was their right and historical obligation to lead forces of good against those of iniquity. They also overthrew foreign government, when economic interest coincided with their ideological ones (kinzer.215). These factors were the reasons behind America’s intervention in Iran, Guatemala, South Vietnam and Chile to control and protect multinational companies as well as the campaign against communism with little or no knowledge about these countries.
I was able to relate to when Jessie said that borders are symbols of the divisions we make of each other. These borders are made up by people to keep each other apart from one another. Whether it is for social, economic, or cultural reasons, the division remains. As Brooke pointed out, these borders prevent freedoms and deny opportunities.
Long before our involvement, the Cubans had been leading revolts and revolutions against Spain. The Spanish empire considered Cuba to be its jewel, not only for its beauty but also for its economics. Cuba’s main source of income was from its expansive sugar plantations that greatly contributed to its wealth (more so to the Spanish Empires wealth). Ironically, even due to the high regard to Cuba, it was neglected and oppressed, as the Spanish Empire began its decline in the middle of the nineteenth century. The Empire was falling due to it slowly loosing its control over its territories, closer to the US then to Spain, because of a lack of industrializing. The Spanish would claim ownership, but never contribute back to their land. This opened the door for what is known as the 10-year war and the struggle for Cuban Independence. The United States never got directly involved, but it sympathized greatly with the Cuban’s cause, for ...
It seems that the United States has been one of the most dominant, if not the most dominant, countries in the world, since the Declaration of Independence. Yet, on Monday, April 17, 1961, our government experienced incredible criticism and extreme embarrassment when Fidel Castro, dictator of Cuba, instantly stopped an invasion on the Cuban beach known as the Bay of Pigs. President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, his advisors, and many Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officials, made the largest error of their political careers. Once the decision was made to invade Cuba, to end Castro and his Communist government, Kennedy and his administration were never looked at in the same light nor trusted again. Russian leader Nikita Khrushchev was affiliated with Castro, and the two countries made many military decisions together. As Kennedy and the United States tried to stop Cuba and Russia from becoming a threat to the world, an invasion was planned out and executed. The results were a disaster. The Bay of Pigs invasion was the largest military mistake ever made by the United States government and the CIA in the 20th century and brought America to the brink of war with Cuba and Russia. The Bay of Pigs invasion was not a quick decision, many hours of meetings and conferences occurred before President Kennedy gave permission for the attack. President Kennedy was inaugurated on January 20, 1961, and immediately wanted to take the initiative with the Soviet and Cuban governments (Pearson 12). Russia was already under Communist control, and Fidel Castro took over the Cuban government with heavily armed troops and policeman. Castro’s policemen filled the streets, and he ran the newspapers, as well as many assembly buildings (Frankel 60). At the beginning, Castro did not run a Communist government, but once he began to meet with Russian leader, Nikita Khrushchev, Castro started a Communist government (Crassweller 23). Max Frankel, writer for the New York Times, summarizes the situation in Cuba by saying, “Little by little, the vise tightened. Little by little the free people of Cuba came to realize it could happen there. The grim facts of life on an island that became a police state” (Frankel 59). Every day, Castro came closer to controlling every aspect in life in Cuba. Fidel Castro even took control of the schools in Cuba, throwing out any teacher who he thought...
A nation without borders is not a nation. Today, every country is making effort to secure its borders not only from terrorists, drugs and smuggling but also from illegal immigration. All these recurring activities have sparked the United States to secure its borders against illegal immigrants and terrorism by creating a special department named the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) headed by the Secretary of Homeland Security. After the terrorist attack of 9/11, terrorism and illegal immigration were two striking issues for the DHS. To solve these issues, the Department of Homeland Security further created two immigration enforcement agencies: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the U.S. Customs and
America had begun to indulge in the unilateral environment afforded to it during the Cold War. As the Soviet Union began to collapse in the 1980s, the United States was on its way to becoming a solo super power. This acquisition of complete power would inevitably lead the country into new problems, including those foreign and domestic. One of the main issues that came around in the 1980s for the Unites States was the Iran-Contra Affair, which involved the Reagan Administration. With the United States readily inserting influence across the globe, the Iran-Contra Affair proved how foreign intervention can lead to scandal and disgrace in the modern world. Along with detrimental scandals, the Iran-Contra Affair showed how America’s imperialistic behavior in South America was beginning to catch up. In order to remain a dominant influence in South America, the United States had no choice but to topple governments that did not align with American ideology. Using guerillas like the Contras insinuates America’s cornerstone of doing what is necessary in order to satisfy foreign interest.
United States invaded Cuba, Puerto Rico and Philippines not to gain wealth, but for the purpose of getting trades. Americans wanted to project their power to the entire hemisphere and the only way to exercise it is by acquiring republics. Citizens of three countries did not fully acquire the independence they thought they were entitled. Cuba got nominal independence because of Platt Amendment, Puerto Rico became a territory but was not called as citizens of America, and instead they were called Puerto Ricans, while Philippines were denied in statehood. They only had fundamental rights, but United States could govern the country as long as they wanted to. Furthermore, holding the countries from self-government prevent these countries to get the chance to apply what they have learned and adopted from American rule and exercise it for their country’s prosperity.
There are several theories to look into when discussing the morality of borders. I specifically look into Stephen Macedo’s chapter “The Moral Dilemma of U.S. Immigration Policy, open borders versus social justice?” in Debating Immigration and Joseph Carens article “Aliens and Citizens: The Case for Open Borders.” Using political theory back up his argument, Carens uses Rawlsian, the Nozickean, and the utilitarian to support and explain his claims that there is little justification for keeping oppressed people from other countries seeking a better life out of the United States. Macedo also uses similar liberal philosophy referencing Rawlsianism to support the opposing idea of a more restrictionist society, posing the question of cosmopolitanism
During the second half of the twentieth century, when the Cold War was on its midst, the United States played an important role in world affairs. The increasing military power that the United States had during the Cold War, allowed it to influence the political decisions that many countries had during this time. The United States directly opposed the idea of communism, which the Soviet Union promoted. This conflict between this two great powers, lasted for five decades, and it tremendously affected the political ideologies of the world. Both countries tried to push their political and economic interest to as many nations as they could, especially those close to their borders. During this time, Guatemala was undergoing a social revolution with communist ideas. The revolution happened as a response to the social injustice committed by the United Fruit Company. The United Fruit Company started to lose land, due to a land reform passed b...
The United States embargo of Cuba has its roots planted in 1960, 53 years ago, when “the United States Congress authorized President Eisenhower to cut off the yearly quota of sugar to be imported from Cuba under the Sugar act of 1948… by 95 percent” (Hass 1998, 37). This was done in response to a growing number of anti-American developments during the height of the cold war, including the “expropriation of United States-owned properties on the island… [and] the Soviet Union [agreeing] to purchase sugar from Cuba and to supply Cuba with crude oil” (Hass 1998, 37). Bad sentiments continued to pile up as Cuba imposed restrictions on the United States Embassy and especially when, after the United States “officially broke off diplomatic ties with Cuba, and travel by United States citizens to Cuba was forbidden ... Castro openly proclaimed his revolution to be ‘socialist’” (Hass 1998, 38). The day after this, the Bay of Pigs invasion occurred, but it failed in its job to topple Castro (Hass 1998, 38). Left with no diplomatic options and a failed military attempt, the United States decided that the only way to end Castro’s socialist regime was to sever all ties, and from 1961 to 1996, a series of acts were passed prohibiting the majority of trade and interaction with Cuba. (Hass 1998, 38).
In the reading of “The Case for Getting Rid of Borders – Completely” Alex Tabarrok he tackles the widely debated issue of borders throughout countries. Tabarrok believes that we should completely get rid of borders and be able to walk through countries freely without any regulation, Tabarrok says that it is a human right to be able to move around wherever we please. Although the idea of having no borders seems like a logical thing to do, it is not at the moment. I believe that there should still be borders put up but to a certain extent, and the reason why is that Mexico and the United States aren’t ready to have open borders. Instead of having completely open borders we should have a system of borders like the ones in Europe. One thing that I do agree with Tabarrok is that having an increase in immigrants due to open borders will provide economic benefit to the country where they reside.
However, the US played a much larger role in Cuba’s past and present than the building of casinos and the introduction of the first taints of corruption. In the past, even before Batista, Americans were resented by Cubans because the Americans made a lot of Cuba’s decisions. Under Batista, 80% of Cuban imports came from the US, and the US controlled at least 50% of sugar, utilities, phones and railroads. If Cuba was a business in the stock markets, then the US would have been close to owning 50% of its shares. When combined with a long history of US-backed leaders, and US involvement, it is understandable that Cubans begrudged the Americans....
...ment and assistance. As witnessed in Chile popular regimes were toppled using brutal means to sustain the stooges of the American regime which helped them in sustaining their dominance and war against Russians. Poverty and suffering brought about by dictators like Augustino Pinochet and others supported by Americans were ignored simply because of their support to Americans. It was sheer hypocrisy and shameful when the concepts which Americans believed (Democracy and Capitalism) were meant to safeguard their interests but not practiced ideologies.
Globalization has effect the role of the state immensely; as the process of present’s challenges to state sovereignty and autonomy. In spite of borders becoming more ill-defined and fluid in as a result of the process of globalization (Weiss 2000, 2-3). The state will remain relevant and necessary because citizens need a place to cast their votes, taxes have to be paid to particular authorities, which can be held accountable for pub...