Kamala Harris in her first visit abroad to Guatemala to be followed by Mexico made it clear what the leitmotif of the United States will be towards the flow of migrants.
“Aid will arrive” he began in front of the Guatemalan president Alejandro Giammattei.
As a sign of helping them at home, the vice president promised that she will meet American entrepreneurs for local investments, then guaranteed that she will support a program for the empowerment of young women, as well as the constitution of a special force to help the country in the struggle. against gangs of drug traffickers and human trafficking.
But above all these promises the message sent was clear “Don’t come to the United States. We will continue to apply the law, to strengthen the borders and to send back the illegal ones ”.
On the other big problem of the country, that of corruption that affects, for public opinion, even the president, Kamala Harris said that the position of the Biden administration is clear: “We must eradicate corruption at its root so that the resources do not come. taken away from the people who need it. We will exterminate corruption wherever we find it “.
And with this goal, Harris has officially announced the formation of a special group consisting of agents from the Department of the Treasury, the Department of State and the Department of Justice, which will deal with cases in the courts focused on the recovery of illicit resources stolen in Guatemala. Honduras and El Salvador.
In addition to the anti-corruption force, Harris announced another team dedicated entirely to fighting drugs and human trafficking across Guatemala’s northern and southern borders. This effort, made with the local police, aims to cut the flow of illegal immigration through the routes traced by criminal gangs in the region, which reach the Rio Bravo with ever-increasing immigration data.
As for the pandemic, Kamala Harris recalled that the United States donated 500,000 vaccines against Coronavirus to the Central American nation, which recorded 262,000 infections and nearly 8,300 deaths.
The vice president also confirmed new economic support aimed at giving dignity to young women, entrepreneurs and 19.5 million dollars for housing projects.
For women, the White House announced $ 40 million over three years distributed through the USAID development program in indigenous communities. Another 30 million will be allocated, with the help of the US private sector, to entrepreneurial projects that can provide answers in difficult areas of the country with priority being given to clean energy, technology, health, water, agriculture and education projects. Guatemala has received more than $ 1.6 billion in humanitarian aid from the United States over the past decade, but this dollar wealth has barely changed the living conditions of thousands of Guatemalans.
But this time the administration of Joe Biden spoke clearly: “we help you but stay at home”.