Sir, - In so many ways the rich, either individually or as countries, have everything going for them while the poor continue to get poorer. Nowhere is this seen more tragically than in Central America.
In El Salvador for 12 years the poor stood up against the establishment by force of arms and suffered at least 80,000 dead in their attempt to gain social justice. Nicaraguans fought against the Somoza regime until they gained their independence in 1979. However, they are still forced to pay back to Western banks the enormous national debt which the Somoza family amassed for themselves. Up to 40 per cent of their national income goes to service this inherited debt. Just as the rays of peace are emerging for Guatemalans after the longest civil war in Latin American history, more suffering is thrust on them. Honduras, the poorest of all these countries, is equally afflicted.
How is it, as The Irish Times puts it that "disaster is biased against the poor" (November 5th)? Wind and water don't seem to be blind forces when they inflict damage on human beings, as the recent Hurricane George shows. It caused a reported 440 deaths in Hispaniola but only four in the US state of Louisiana. Deforestation, poor housing and the lack of an early hurricane warning system has contributed enormously to the appalling human tragedy caused by Hurricane Mitch but the question must be asked why poor people's lives really don't matter in today's world.
The mahogany forests of Central America have been cut down so that the rich can have mahogany toilet seats to rest their fat bottoms on while Central Americans are left with land that is in constant danger of mud slides and soil erosion. It now emerges that the transnational company Chiquita is abandoning Honduras because its banana profits are in danger, leaving over 8,000 employees without work. Justice demands that the national debts of these countries be written off. They have suffered enough and they need a break. - Yours, etc.,
Brendan Butler,
Chairperson,
Irish El Salvador Support Committee,
Pennock Hill,
Swords,
Co Dublin.