{"id":6293,"date":"2024-10-28T14:05:38","date_gmt":"2024-10-28T14:05:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/?p=6293"},"modified":"2024-10-28T14:05:38","modified_gmt":"2024-10-28T14:05:38","slug":"the-first-us-peace-corps-volunteers-return-to-el-salvador-since-leaving-in-2016-because-of-violence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/2024\/10\/28\/the-first-us-peace-corps-volunteers-return-to-el-salvador-since-leaving-in-2016-because-of-violence\/","title":{"rendered":"The first US Peace Corps volunteers return to El Salvador since leaving in 2016 because of violence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Link to article: https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/el-salvador-us-peace-corps-return-violence-crackdown-19da0bd2033789da73cbd9172901b181<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. Peace Corps volunteers are back in El Salvador for the first time in 8 years. Previously, El Salvador had a dangerously high homicide rate that caused the Peace Corps to pull out of the country. Now, because of El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, and his no tolerance approach to crime, El Salvador is becoming one of the safest countries in Central America. President Bukele declared a state of emergency in 2022 that he used to arrest thousands of people without due process on suspicions of gang involvement — a method that, though criticized by human rights activists, has so far proven successful in keeping the violent crime rates down. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This situation is interesting to me. President Bukele is arguably committing human rights violations in the name of reducing crime — but it’s working<\/em>. It asks a question of the international community: Do you condemn the method or praise the result? Theoretically, it’s a tricky question, but in practice the answer is simple: reap the benefits of a safer El Salvador. Right now, it doesn’t make sense for any country to intervene in this objectionable but still potentially justifiable use of power, not unless Bukele takes even more drastic actions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In that vein, it makes sense for the U.S. to have sent in the Peace Corps volunteers. It seems like the only limiting factor was the fact that El Salvador was previously too dangerous to send volunteers. And sending volunteers is far from an endorsement. As for El Salvador, what Bukele is doing is working, but at some point he needs to end the state of emergency and give some of his power back. I’m not confident that will happen, however. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This situation and the decisions made regarding it demonstrate national interest. In 2016, the U.S. found that the cost of sending Peace Corps volunteers to El Salvador outweighed the benefits — it became too risky for the volunteers, and the U.S. had to protect its people first. Similarly, El Salvador is also considering its national interests in their decisions regarding crime. The citizens of El Salvador do not want to be wrongfully imprisoned, but they want to live in a safe country. Moreover, other countries will not invest in El Salvador if it is rife with violent crime. Despite the criticisms of the method, it makes sense for El Salvador to take this hard line approach to crime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Link to article: https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/el-salvador-us-peace-corps-return-violence-crackdown-19da0bd2033789da73cbd9172901b181 U.S. Peace Corps volunteers are back in El Salvador for the first time in 8 years. Previously, El Salvador had a dangerously high homicide rate that caused the Peace Corps to pull out of the country. Now, because of El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, and his no tolerance approach to crime, El Salvador is becoming one… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":295,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/295"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6293"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6293\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6304,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6293\/revisions\/6304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}