A CNN report of April 3, 2021:
"The Biden administration has placed around 28,000 radio ads in Latin America as part of a stepped-up campaign to discourage people from journeying to the US. But amid a dramatic spike in migrants to the southern border, many of whom have been lured by false information and rumors from smugglers, it's not clear the ads are resonating...
[The ads have been] placed by the US into media markets in Brazil, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras since January. The spots, which are recorded in Spanish, Portuguese, and six indigenous languages, have reached at least 7 million Central American radio listeners via 133 radio stations...
The ad campaign is designed to combat a range of factors driving migrants to the border, including a slew of misinformation being spread by smugglers and the widespread belief among migrants that under the Biden administration, border enforcement has been relaxed and the US is more welcoming to immigrants. That's a powerful incentive for many Central American migrants, who are seeking to escape a region best by troubles, including violence and the economic devastation wrought by the pandemic and two hurricanes last year...
US Customs and Border Protection encountered 171,700 migrants in March, including a record number of unaccompanied minors, far exceeding February's totals and continuing an upward trend dating back to last year, according to preliminary data obtained by CNN."
171,700 migrants in March alone. Media buys: according to Washington, that will solve the problem. Simple, no? Why didn´t you and I think of that?
Of course, they will do nothing of the sort. To its credit, CNN goes on to note:
"´Generally, [messages are] not being heard and the reason for that is because the push factors for that are so strong that people are willing to take the risk even if it's a dangerous journey. They tune in more to their neighbors next door, their family, and smugglers,´ said Wendy Young, president of Kids in Need of Defense, which works with unaccompanied migrant children."
"Push factors"? What push factors?
CNN dutifully notes them -- and just as dutifully minimizes them: the economic devastation wrought by the pandemic and two hurricanes last year. Sorry, CNN, economic devastation predates the pandemic and hurricanes by a long shot. Centuries, in fact. Not only is CNN´ s argument not on first base, it is not even in the state that has the county that has the city that has the ballpark where the game is being played.
It is a well-known fact that mainstream media do not earn profits from subscriptions but rather from advertisements. To be sure, the manifest purpose of the 28,000 radio ads is to discourage people from traveling to the U.S. The latent purpose, however, is to buy the 133 radio stations´ political support. Both purposes expose the proverbial Washingtonian bottom line: clumsy, naïve.
If ads won´t stop Latin Americans from journeying to the U.S., what will?
* * *
Most likely, chronic failure has convinced you the economic development of Latin America is impossible.
Reality proves otherwise.
Ecuador offers a compelling local success story of community empowerment and the eradication of poverty.
In 1970, the village of Salinas de Guaranda had an 85% illiteracy rate and a 45% infant mortality rate. Today, Salinas is a prospering community.
An Italian priest, Antonio Polo, turned the village around. He saw something latent and made it manifest.
That something was what the locals call “esfuerzo comunitario.”
Community effort.
Salinas created an organization-production-commercialization-savings model based on “esfuerzo.” It is a vestige of pre-Columbian America.
The solution is obvious. By themselves, local Latin American communities must and can eradicate poverty. IF SALINAS CAN DO IT, ANY PLACE CAN.
Something else is obvious. If Washington´s standard solutions -- most notably foreign aid -- could solve the problem. they would have done it by now..