Vice President Kamala Harris spent months preparing for her first international trip, a Visit to Guatemala and Mexico early next week. she has been on behalf of President Biden leading the government’s diplomatic efforts with the Northern Triangle countries and Mexico to stem the flow of migrants on the southern border.
She will leave for the region on Sunday, June 6th, and over the next two days will meet the presidents of the two nations and check the organizers on site.
“The goal of the Vice President’s trip is to deepen our strategic partnership and bilateral relations with both the Guatemalan and Mexican governments to advance a comprehensive strategy to address the root causes of migration,” Senior Advisor Symone Sanders said on a phone call with reporters on Tuesday night. “We will also invite community leaders, workers, young innovators and entrepreneurs and others to ensure economic security, address core factors of migration and give people hope for a better life at home.”
Sanders said the vice president would also discuss COVID-19 Vaccination assistance with the heads of state and government of both countries.
MANDEL NGAN / AFP via Getty Images
The vice president will address factors such as natural disasters, food insecurity and climate change, as well as poverty, violence and corruption, according to Sanders.
In March President Harris asked Harris to lead the government’s diplomatic efforts with Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. Mr Biden had the same responsibilities as the Vice President in the Obama administration.
Trending news
“Citizens of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras are leaving their homes at an alarming rate. But behind this headline lies a fundamental truth: people in the region do not want to leave their homes.” Harris said at the Washington Virtual Conference on America in May.
Since taking office, Harris has held virtual bilateral meetings with the presidents of Guatemala and Mexico, pledged an additional $ 310 million in humanitarian aid to the Northern Triangle countries, and announced last week that 12 companies made commitments to promote economic opportunity in the region as part of a call to action. Companies that are making commitments include MasterCard and Microsoft.
Mexico receives a lot of attention from the Biden government due to its location and economic ties, but Guatemala has emerged as a key migration partner since the beginning of the Biden government.
This is partly due to its geography: The country of 16.5 million people, about the size of Ohio, borders Mexico, El Salvador and Honduras and the other two Central American countries are led by increasingly unstable governments. Most of the unaccompanied children arriving at the US-Mexico border in the past few months were from Guatemala; US officials attribute this to the country’s troubled economy, which was hit by reduced agricultural production due to natural disasters and drought, as well as a decline in tourism revenue during the pandemic.
President Alejandro Giammattei was elected President of Guatemala in 2019 and is considered the leader of a more stable government than Juan Orlando Hernandez of Honduras, whose brother was charged with drug possession in the US last year, and Nayib Bukele of El Salvador, whose party is now in total control of the government of the country and has attempted in recent weeks to deprive the country’s judicial sector of many of its rights. Bukele has mocked US officials on Twitter, including MP Norma Torres, a California-born Democrat who was born in Guatemala and who has harshly criticized many of the region’s leaders for corruption.
In Guatemala, the first leg of the vice president’s journey, Harris will meet with local entrepreneurs as well as giammattei, Mazin Alfaqih, the vice president’s special adviser for the Northern Triangle, told reporters.
Advisors to both heads of state and government tell CBS News that their meeting is expected to address government concerns over deep-rooted government corruption, threats to the country’s judicial independence, and longstanding U.S. and Guatemalan missions to combat drug traffickers and traffickers The Guatemalan government’s desire to focus more will be on economic aid, particularly in the form of private sector investments
Alfaqih pointed out that the US would increase the number of security guards in the area to “provide training and other capacity building,” and said the White House was continuing to work to provide resources to asylum seekers in their home countries.
“One of the things that were agreed upon at the last meeting and that we are working on is our resource centers for migrants in the region.” said Alfaqih. “We therefore assume that the first resource center for migrants will be opened in Guatemala. [We] look forward to opening more resource centers across the country, [and] in the region that would provide assistance to prospective migrants in their home countries. “
Harris prepared for this trip by speaking with people who know the region and its challenges well: White House officials, members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), private sector organizations, foundation leaders, and Guatemalan justice officials.
After their meeting with the CHC in May, the chairman of the caucus, Dr. Raul Ruiz, the government’s approach to the region to address the root causes of migration from the region “professionally, humanly and wisely”.
“The CHC will continue to lead Congress and work together, under the strong leadership of Vice President Harris, to strengthen the government institutions of the Northern Triangle countries, combat corruption and impunity, increase economic opportunities, reduce violence, and provide immediate and long-term humanitarian aid Help in preparation for natural disasters. “Ruiz said in a statement.
