A Wall At The Border Will Not Stem The Tide Of Refugees From The Northern Triangle Countries.

We must address the issues at the source.

Photo by namo deet from Pexels

The Northern Triangle of Central America, refers to Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador. The name originates from a trade agreement signed in 2001 between them, Colombia, Mexico and the U.S.

Today we continue to refer to these three countries by this same sobriquet, however with the understanding in mind that they represent the poorest, and most troubled countries of all Latin America.

The two biggest issues these three countries face today, is they individually possess some of the highest intentional homicide rates in the world, as well as the lowest annual per capita GDP (PPP) in all of Latin America.

Honduras occupies the unenviable distinction of being the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, second only to Haiti, while El Salvador has the highest intentional homicide rate in the world.

The following is a chart showing the challenges these three countries face:

Chart created by J.C. Scull — Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP) — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Development_Index — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gini_coefficient — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate