Dictatorships are the cause of forced migration in the 21st century in the Americas

(Interamerican Institute for Democracy) Forced migration affects all countries in the Americas. Millions of people are fleeing from undemocratic states, seeking protection for their human rights violated by the organized crime system and state terrorism. The democratic countries that are their destinations are impacted by the volume of migrants to the extent that they have to reject them. The lack of freedom and democracy leads to the crisis, and its solution points to the end of dictatorships because they are the cause of emigration. Migration is «the geographical displacement of individuals or groups, generally due to economic or social causes.» Exile is «the separation of a person from the land in which they live,» the «forced expatriation of an individual while some circumstance, usually for political reasons, prevents them from returning.» No one flees their country under normal conditions. The causes of forced departure are the absence of essential elements of democracy that manifest politically, economically, and socially.

Citizen insecurity, lack of employment, food scarcity, degradation of education replaced by indoctrination, lack of freedom, political prisoners, torture, murders, religious repression, attacks on private property, political persecution, the country turned into a narco-state, and more are all violations of human rights. It is the «state terrorism» defined as «crimes committed by the government with the purpose of generating fear in the population so that it assumes submissive behavior that would not otherwise be possible.»

The manipulation of justice by the regime that leaves people defenseless, the concentration of all power with indefinite and impunity validity, the absence of free and fair elections, the inability to express and associate freely, the lack of freedom of the press, the creation of infamous laws that violate human rights instead of protecting them through legislative simulation of the regime are violations of human rights by organized crime governments.

No one wants or can continue living in a country without respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, without the rule of law, and without the separation and independence of powers. It is not possible to accept that one’s family and children endure the fear, helplessness, hunger, and misery imposed by dictatorships as a method of subduing peoples. Those who do not submit to the organized crime system and state terrorism are forced to emigrate.

The 21st century in the Americas is marked by the expansion of the Cuban dictatorship, which has installed dictatorships in Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Bolivia as its satellites and has taken its project to the semi-dictatorial governments of Argentina with Fernández/Kirchner, Mexico with López Obrador, Colombia with Petro, Brazil with Lula da Silva, and the intermittent Boric in Chile. Dictatorships expel citizens, centers of migration and exile that are caused by the absence of essential elements of democracy.

Forcing migration has a triple benefit for dictatorships: it is a means of internal subjugation, a weapon of attack and destabilization of democracies, and a source of economic income. To emigrate, one needs to be documented at a minimum, and that depends on the regime. Dictatorships promote and infiltrate migratory flows heading to democratic countries that they seek to destabilize. When migrants earn income, they send money to help their families. Forcing them to leave, pressuring the stability of democratic countries they arrive in, and receiving remittances make the crime of forcing migrations an efficient and profitable method for dictatorships.

The most impactful migrations of this century in the Americas originate from the dictatorships of Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua. In the 21st century, Cuba has expelled nearly 25% of its population, which, when added to the four decades of emigrants from the last century, makes it the leading country in forced departure for almost 65 years. Venezuela has expelled around 7 million citizens, representing over 20% of its population. Nicaragua has expelled 11.06% of its inhabitants. And the numbers continue to rise.

The border crisis in the United States, the one in the Darien region of Panama, the one on the Chile-Peru border due to Venezuelan migrants, the one in Colombia, the one involving Nicaraguans in Costa Rica, the one in Manhattan and other cities overwhelmed by migrants, and more, are just symptoms, consequences of «a cause called dictatorship.» The solution is to restore democracy to the peoples so that people do not have to escape, and those who have left can fulfill their long-awaited goal of returning.