There is much valuable information about the U.S. immigration crisis in Cesar Chelala's opinion piece "Why the U.S. owes Central America" in the Aug. 10 edition.
In fact, I'm furious that we have been watching the humanitarian tragedy, and needless fighting and insults, for so long without this clear background explanation. Instead, we have been served with a heaping trash of commentaries that only confuse our understanding of the problems which plague the world today.
We live in a world plagued by many diseases started by covert CIA operations several decades ago. Iran's anti-U, S. regime, now an epicenter of global conflict, might claim legitimacy because of the CIA-backed coup against the democratically elected Mohammad Mosaddegh administration in 1953.
As Chelala pointed out, the diseases rage deadly in Latin America where the U.S. strutted about as the master of its backyard. The imperious U.S. behavior enabled the crazy leftists like Venezuela's Hugo Chavez to champion their disastrous policies and bring their countries into catastrophic chaos.
I have been wondering why the poor people would dare to risk their and their children's lives through the punishing travel across the borders, leaving their dear homeland behind. Now, reading Chelala's explanation, the reason for the tragedy has sunk into me.
That is where the real problem starts. We must help their countries get in order, while protecting the migrants stranded en route. But how? I don't know. It's America's responsibility.
The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.