The United States government announced on Monday a new commitment to invest more than 950 million dollars in aid for the countries of the Northern Triangle of Latin America, as part of its strategy to directly address the causes of migration from that region, a one of the hardest hit by economic crises and violence.
Vice President Kamala Harris announced from the White House the new batch of economic assistance, this time in the form of investments from private companies, which already brings the total amount of financial aid from the Joe Biden administration to more than 4.2 billion dollars. to Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala.
“To address the root causes of migration we must also – and this is an absolute guiding principle – promote good governance, reduce violence and empower women,” Harris insisted this Monday during a meeting in Washington with members of private companies, NGOs and officials involved in the cooperation initiative.
Number two from the US government specified that there are already almost 50 private and public actors working to support broader economic development in the northern region of Central America. Harris specified that among the investment areas will be the “garment, textile and financial services industries.”
The vice president indicated that with these new steps they seek to create one million jobs in the region by 2032 and promote the inclusion of some 6 million people in the formal banking system by 2027.
Central America was the only subregion of the Western Hemisphere for which President Joe Biden made a proposal during the electoral campaign that included millions of dollars of approved funds, in addition to mobilizing the private sector to participate and invest in the region, from where thousands of migrants arrive to the US every year.
At Monday’s meeting, Harris announced a second phase of the cooperation initiative, which will include a “series of commitments from the US government” that complement private sector initiatives, including support for infrastructure development in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala.
“We will help identify clean energy projects, in addition to providing technical assistance to make these projects viable and identify and connect potential partners,” explained the vice president, who also added that the government will offer financing through various cooperation agencies.
Positive results
“These efforts to address the root causes of migration represent a long-term development effort, although we are already beginning to see some positive results,” Harris said during the meeting in Washington.
According to official figures, the more than 3.2 billion dollars committed so far “have created jobs and increased access to financial systems, including the Internet” in the Central American region, where more than a million people have benefited and others 65,000 have created bank accounts as a direct result of this initiative, launched in July 2021.
In fiscal year 2022, the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Office apprehended 197,039 migrants from Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. Although the number is lower compared to 2021, there was more migration of unaccompanied minors.
“We believe that people generally don’t want to leave their homes and when they do it’s because they’re running from danger or because staying means they won’t be able to provide for themselves and their family’s basic needs,” Harris said.
The vice president, appointed by Joe Biden to handle the migration challenge During his tenure, he stressed that according to data from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) the number of people arriving in the US from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala has “decreased significantly.”
Harris once again called on Congress to “fix the broken immigration system” of the US and to approve the funds requested by President Joe Biden to increase personnel in the processing of asylum cases and the southern border, overwhelmed during the immigration crisis that took place. its peak in 2022.
Harris recalled that after the implementation of the humanitarian parole for Venezuelans, Nicaraguans, Cubans and Haitians, the arrivals of nationals from those countries have fallen by 99% and called not to “politicize a sensitive issue” such as migration.
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