U.S. support for Contras fueled Central America’s dirty wars and migration

Evidence

In the 1980s, the U.S. government helped fuel Central America’s dirty wars through its covert and overt support for brutal, drug-dealing Contras and repressive regimes in Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador. These wars killed and injured hundreds of thousands, frayed and destroyed social relations, and increased poverty, insecurity, and drug trafficking in the region. The wars also led to widespread forced migration, including widespread flight to the United States. — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 312

Categorization

• XREF: The 1980s Contra-war origins of migration connects to current Central American migration debates and to the Honduras chapter’s opening claims about violence rising after the 2009 coup.