Most people know that America is a continent. It is the second biggest continent in the planet. Almost 1 billion human beings live in this continent. Also most people agree that discourse and language are powerful tools. When the English language refers to America as a country (USA), and American as a citizen from this country, it excludes from this definition nearly 680 million people who were born and live in the continent. They are mostly Americans from the south, just like the Canadians, but speaking different languages and more tanned. About they were never told tales of liberty, egalitarianism, and republicanism. Indeed, there is some sort of exclusivity about being American, conferred just for “State-Americans”. People from south were never “exceptional”. To naturally exclude them from the “American dream” was the first brick in the wall that keeps southern Americans dying in El Salvador, Guatemala or Honduras. Just in the heart of American continent. Part of a whole generation is being lost on the streets of these countries, and America pretends that it just doesn’t see.
This continent is blessed with around 42,549,000 square kilometers of land. We are certainly not it shortage of it. So, is it moral to force people to live inside imaginary borders that have the highest’s homicide rates in the planet? Is it fair to make children and teenagers pay with their lives for the endless “War on Drugs”? Nationals’ governments should jointly oppose the current slaughtering of American youth by the hand of drug cartels and crime. Unfortunately, while cocaine stills the most demanded and lucrative good in the inter-Americas trade, in south the free market and regional integration will look very bloody.
Naturally such faith is not written in the starts, and another continent certainly is possible. People fleeing this sort of violence must to be granted asylum. Common policies to recognize refugees across all OEA States should already be in place. Steps must to be taken to grant to Central Americans the right to look for a better future not only in the USA or Mexico, but in every neighboring country that they manage to settle and flourish. Furthermore, international trade policies for reversing marginalization should be set in place, in order to make opportunities accessible in Central America.
These actions should not be seen as charity or aid. They are grounded in the basic believe that we belong to a rich and diverse continent. A continent that entered the modern age challenging intercontinental emperies, and opened the last gate for world globalization. We are not doomed for poverty. We were made divided and very poor in some ghettos. Fortunately this is a possible change, but it is our responsibility to continuously pursue this revolution.