IRAQ:
Latin American Troops Paying Price of Occupation

Diego Cevallos


MEXICO CITY,  (IPS) - Some 150 soldiers of Latin American descent have died in Iraq, and the total keeps rising, as has the tone of the activists who are demanding that the Latino troops ”come home”.

”The war is being paid for with the lives of young Latinos, many of whom went to Iraq under force or deception,” Fernando Suárez, leader of ”Guerrero Azteca” (Aztec Warrior), a movement that demands the United States withdraw its troops from the Middle East.

The military camps of Salvadoran and Honduran troops came under fire on Wednesday in Najaf, 160 km south of Baghdad, though no casualties were reported.

Just days earlier, a Salvadoran soldier was reported dead. A Mexican and a Nicaraguan in the U.S. navy were also killed recently.

Suárez, whose son Jesús was a U.S. soldier who died in Iraq at the beginning of the war, in March 2003, says the withdrawal of 370 Honduran troops and a similar number of Dominican soldiers -- announced this week by their respective governments -- ”sets an example to be followed.”

”Those of us who believe that this absurd war shouldn't involve us (Latin Americans) are happy with the troop withdrawal, but it must be said that there are many others still there who should return,” said the activist, a Mexican who has lived in the United States since the mid-1990s.

There are 135,000 U.S. soldiers in Iraq, and 22 percent are of Hispanic descent.

After Spain announced on Sunday that it was bringing home its 1,300 soldiers, Honduras and the Dominican Republic followed suit. But not El Salvador, whose government announced that its 380 troops will remain at least until June as part of the military alliance that invaded Iraq on Mar. 20, 2003, led by the United States.

Spain commanded the Central American troops in Iraq in the battalion known as Plus Ultra, which also included 113 soldiers from Nicaragua who returned home in late March.

The dismantling of the Plus Ultra battalion was more a diplomatic than military blow for the U.S. government of George W. Bush, says Mexican academic Juan Martínez del Río.

”Washington is angry with Spain, but I don't think the same will occur with Honduras or the Dominican Republic, because they were minor forces and were under the command of another country,” he said in an IPS interview.

It is difficult to understand El Salvador's insistence on remaining in Iraq, because with the departure of its Central American neighbours and the Spaniards it has ”sufficient arguments” to leave the battle front, said Martínez del Río, professor of international law at several Mexican universities.

Antonio Saca, president-elect of El Salvador, said Wednesday that he fully supports the current government's decision to maintain troops in Iraq, even though it is roundly condemned by various political groups, the Roman Catholic Church and humanitarian organisations.

”I think the cost of combating terrorism is what we are experiencing, which are the casualties, but our children are going to appreciate that we are taking steps to fight terrorism. We are going to continue with our troops,” said Saca, who will be sworn in as president of El Salvador on Jun. 1.

According to official figures, just over 700 soldiers from the occupation forces have died since the war in Iraq began.

”Washington doesn't want to give precise figures, but we estimate that at least 150 of the soldiers killed in Iraq are of Latino origin,” said Suárez, whose Aztec Warrior group not only speaks out against the war, but also organises support groups for families of the soldiers and mobilises against the recruitment of young people into the U.S. armed forces.

Suárez visited Iraq in December with the financial help of human rights organisations. He said he interviewed some 50 soldiers of Latin American origin while there.

”Only three told me that they were in Iraq to do their job, but the rest said they didn't want to be there, that they felt used, and also that they were afraid of dying.”

He says that a large portion of the approximately 120,000 soldiers of Latino origin who serve in the U.S. army enlisted because they were tempted by the offer of U.S. citizenship and access to credit and to university scholarships.

Suárez recalled that when he began to engage in public protests for the return of the soldiers he was accompanied by no more than 20 families who had loved ones who were deployed or had been killed in Iraq. ”Today we are 1,985 families and we keep growing..”

On Apr. 14, Suárez planted himself in front of the White House, in Washington D.C., along with a group of families of fallen soldiers as well as supporters of the group Military Families Speak Out. They wanted a meeting with Bush to present their demands.

But he was not able to speak to the U.S. leader. He and his fellow protesters -- carrying hundreds of flowers and posters bearing photos of their children -- were beaten and dispersed by the police.

”We will continue the fight as long as we can. We are moved by the example of our fallen children and the pain of knowing that others like them continue to die in this illegal and illegitimate occupation of Iraq,” he said.

Suárez maintains close contact with Camilo Mejía, a young U.S. soldier of Nicaraguan origins, who after serving several months in Iraq withdrew from the front and declared himself a conscientious objector, refusing to continue to be part of the invasion. As a result, he was arrested and is being held on a military base in the United States as he awaits trial.

Mejía, son of the famous Nicaraguan singer-songwriter and emblem of the left, Carlos Mejía Godoy, ”is a brave man who we all support. He raised up his voice to say what many U.S. soldiers are thinking,” said Suárez.

IPS tried to interview Camilo Mejía, but his attorneys said that since he turned himself in to his military commanders in March, he has been prohibited from speaking to the media.