Douglas Farah on the state of US-Central American relations

Douglas Farah has an opinion piece on US-Central America relations and the gang truce in El Salvador. In the Loss of Central America’s Northern Triangle, Farah  argues that the gang truce has only served to strengthen the maras and to make a mockery out of the country's rule of law. What I don't entirely understand is his conclusion.

These options are emblematic of the Hobbesian choices facing most countries in Central America. None of the leaders of the Northern Triangle are offering new thinking on how to tackle the multiple, complex problems in the region. The reality is that the host of factors driving the violence and the hollowing out of the states can only be tackled at a regional level. Each individual country is too small, too insular and too poor to do much on its own.

The United States must engage with the region as a whole, both out of self-interest and the interests of those in the region seeking a new paradigm that moves beyond transactional politics of corruption and violence to rule of law, economic freedom and transparency. Yet, the U.S. cannot want change more than the Central American governments do, nor can it help when the elites — both the traditional and emerging groups — do not view real reform as in their self-interest. Policy options are limited and complex, but the crisis is growing quickly.

I get that the United States needs to engage the countries of Central America at the regional level but I am not sure how he envisions that to be any different than today. In addition to all the bilateral programs, the US and Central America engage through the Central American Regional Security Initiative (CARSI) and the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR). Perhaps region-wide partnerships for growth, millennium challenge compacts, and commissions against impunity will do the trick but I'm not exactly sure.

Farah rightly characterizes US frustration with the region as well which I wrote about last year. It's not easy for the US to approach Central America at the regional level when the countries are led by Otto Perez Molina, Juan Hernandez, Daniel Ortega, and Funes (to be replaced by either Sanchez Ceren or Quijano). And then you can thrown in Martinelli and Chinchilla.

However, I'm not sure what he means by

That hope is gone, replaced by deep cynicism and dismay that governments of both the right and the left immediately sought to turn their countries into piñatas in which only a few on either side benefited. The far left and far right, after decades of blood letting, found they could make money together while their countries entered into downward spirals of impunity, violence and massive corruption.

He's writing about the Northern Triangle (Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras) but the only country that fits this description is Nicaragua. It's definitely not Honduras and Guatemala. The far left has very little power, especially wealth, in either country. In El Salvador, it is possible that the far left enters into some sort of arrangement to weaken and loot the state but I wouldn't say that they are there yet. And it is probably the country with the least citizen cynicism and dismay where the alliance is strongest. Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua has the most support of any of the region's president although that might change with the next constitutional reforms.

There's more but you get the gist. Now time to prep for my 1:00 PM class on Comparative Civil Wars.