Readers' Blog: Wall to block the victims of US diplomatic interference

The declaration by Mr Trump of a state of emergency in order to fund his wall marks a dangerous step and calls into question the efficacy of the checks on executive power supposedly built into the structures of governance in the US. The move either indicates that Trump is ignorant of the scope of his office or is deliberately pushing the envelope. Both are worrying developments.

Readers' Blog: Wall to block the victims of US diplomatic interference

The declaration by Mr Trump of a state of emergency in order to fund his wall marks a dangerous step and calls into question the efficacy of the checks on executive power supposedly built into the structures of governance in the US. The move either indicates that Trump is ignorant of the scope of his office or is deliberately pushing the envelope. Both are worrying developments.

There is a tragic irony at play here also in that the wall, for which he has a childish obsession, is to prevent entry into the US of thousands of refugees from countries still bearing the scars of years of disastrous US interference in Central America. Many of the individuals travelling towards the US border through Mexico are rural dwellers from Guatemala and El Salvador who have been violently moved from their traditional areas either as collateral damage in regional drug wars or to make way for sugar or palm oil plantations funded by international development loans.

Much of the violence they have suffered has been orchestrated by paramilitary groups whose origins can be dated back to the notorious US Army School of the Americas in Fort Benning Georgia. Officers were specifically trained at this facility to deal brutally with organisations which were not seen as being aligned with US interests. Many of the leaders of the death squads which ran rampant in the region during the ‘80s and nineties passed through Fort Benning.

With total disregard to the tragic history of the region and the role that the US has played in it, Mr Trump has decided to vilify large groups of vulnerable people in order contrive an emergency to justify an election promise. In doing so Trump is merely repeating the methodology used by history’s tyrants, namely to pit vulnerable communities against each other.

Thankfully, in this troubling time for US democracy, we are seeing the recently elected progressive democrats, representing primarily a younger electorate, starting to make their presence felt in Congress. Trump will not have it all his own way in the coming year and 2020 looks increasingly like being a pivotal year in US history.

Barry Walsh

Blackrock

Cork

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