Operation World: Hot Spots in the Americas

Hot Spots of the Americas

1 The moral devastation caused by drug trafficking is corrupting politicians, law enforcement agencies and judicial systems, filling the prisons with the small-fry and destroying the lives of millions of drug users across the two continents. The desperate poverty of the growers and the seemingly insatiable craving for drugs — especially in wealthy North America — makes for lucrative opportunities for criminal drug cartels and leftist guerrilla movements who exploit this dual need. Drug enforcement bodies and billions of US dollars have scarcely dented the problem. Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Jamaica, Haiti and other nations have been so impacted by this that the traffickers often wield more power than the central government. Pray that this evil might be tamed, and even eliminated, and that those in authority might pursue viable and effective policies to achieve this.



2 The unresolved issue of widespread poverty. Economic progress has often failed to filter down to the poor. Marxist guerrilla insurrections once plagued many countries, but since 1990 these have been reduced in number. Only in Colombia is there widespread military conflict with rightist militia and leftist guerrillas controlling large areas of the country and financing their forces with drug trafficking. Low-scale insurrection continues in Peru and Mexico and an uneasy peace after years of war prevails in Nicaragua and Guatemala. Democratic government is fragile and economies are struggling in many countries. Pray for the resolution of existing conflicts and courageous government actions to alleviate the conditions that provoke uprisings.



3 The political resurgence of indigenous Amerindian peoples. The Guatemalan civil war was largely a protest by the repressed, marginalized Mayan peoples. The violent Peruvian revolt was likewise a movement of the Quechuas, and the quirky guerrilla movement in south Mexico is a demand for redress by marginalized Amerindian peoples. Pray that the centuries of wrongs against the indigenous peoples may be righted and their economic, cultural and political rights restored.

4 Countries facing an uncertain, possibly traumatic future:

a) Cuba after the departure of President Castro will need to recover from over 4 decades of Marxism and economic isolation.

b) Haiti with its desperate poverty and appalling history of dictatorships, rigged elections and bad government.

c) Guyana and Suriname with unresolved ethnic tensions and unstable governments.

d) Countries struggling to survive, such as: Nicaragua — after civil war; Honduras — natural disasters; Paraguay dictatorships and coups.

5 Unresolved territorial disputes — Venezuela and Suriname's claims on Guyana; Argentina's on the Falklands (Islas Malvinas) and Guatemala's on Belize.



Pasted from <http://www.operationworld.org/region/am/owtext.html#Pray5>