NewsIn Guatemala, Kamala Harris calls for measures so that...

In Guatemala, Kamala Harris calls for measures so that people "do not leave home"

“We know that many people do not want to leave home” and that they do so because “they cannot satisfy their basic needs,” said the vice president of the United States, Kamala Harris, who asked Guatemala to work together to address the causes that push migration, and offered their support in the fight against corruption.

Harris expressed to the president of Guatemala, Alejandro Giammattei, the priority that the Joe Biden administration gives to the region, to work “together” to “solve long-standing problems.”

“We must address migration and from this region in particular,” Harris said Monday at the National Palace of Culture, the former government house in the center of the capital, where the meeting between the two leaders was held.

For the vice president, “most people don’t want to leave home, they don’t want to leave the place where their grandmother grew up, the place where she prays, the place where they speak their language and their culture is familiar.”

Harris detailed in a press conference that his government will implement several measures with the aim of reducing irregular migration from Guatemala, including the creation of a transnational entity that fights against corruption and the investment of private companies in the United States in the poorest areas. from the country.

“Do not come to the United States, do not come,” said the vice president during a press conference at the National Palace of Culture, the seat of the Guatemalan government, to discourage migrants from going irregularly to the United States.

Harris arrived in Guatemala on Sunday night and met with Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei on Monday morning to address various issues, but mainly irregular migration.

In the afternoon, the US official met with around 20 members of civil society at a private university, before leaving for Mexico in the evening, as scheduled on her agenda.

Against corruption in Central America

In a joint press conference with Giammattei, Harris explained that a US task force will collaborate with local prosecutors to punish corruption in the region.

The administration of President Joe Biden has identified corruption as an underlying cause of the poverty and violence that drives record numbers of Central Americans to migrate to the United States.

The US official assured that the Anti-Corruption Task Force will be able to “support Guatemalan prosecutors” to follow “the route of money,” since “corruption knows no borders.”

Harris did not provide further information about the regional anti-corruption entity, which had already been announced in March by Juan González, special adviser to US President Joe Biden.

The official added that, from what she has spoken with President Joe Biden, his Administration’s position is “very clear on the issue of corruption,” and emphasized that the United States wants to “tackle it at the root, because we know that it is not convenient for them. to a democracy “.

The vice president met with Giammattei this Monday for more than two hours in a hall of the National Palace in which they signed three substantial agreements: the creation of the Anti-Corruption Task Force, the fight against the trafficking of drugs and people, and investment for the prosperity, with the support of Guatemalan girls and women.

The Task Force announced for months by the US government will support “prosecutions for those who dare to carry out corrupt activities” and will help businessmen who want to invest in the Central American country have the certainty “if their valuable resources are going to arrive. to their final destination, may they not fall into corrupt hands. “

The vice president of the United States said she will combine resources from the Justice, State and Treasury departments.

Questioned by the international press as to whether Giammattei himself is part of that corruption that civil society denounces, the Guatemalan president said that “social networks more than information carry misinformation” and specified that he has been identified as “zero” cases.

Giammattei thanked the Task Force for its support and said that Guatemala is in “a frank fight against corruption”, a scourge that he defined as “a multidimensional act, since it goes through some people who obtain money from abroad and come here to do illicit activities. It is not known who is in charge or what he is doing. “

Harris concluded that the conversation with Giammattei about corruption was “very frank and open.”

It is a quality “that I admire about him and he about me,” because “we don’t have time to go around our concerns,” he added.

“The president and I discussed the importance of fighting corruption and the importance of an independent judiciary,” Harris added. Washington has criticized the removal of a superior judge from Guatemala’s high court, something that Giammattei said was a legitimate process.

While the meeting was taking place, outside the US embassy in Guatemala, a group of citizens arrived with banners blaming Giammattei for “corruption” and “poverty” in the country. “Kamala, they lie to you,” read one of the displayed posters.

Giammattei, a right-wing who has criticized an alleged left-wing bias in the prosecutor’s decisions against impunity, assured that his government demonstrates its anti-corruption will with deeds, “not setting up ideological trenches, because hunger has no ideologies.”

Task Force Against Human Trafficking

Harris recalled the dangers to which migrants are exposed on foot, exposed to abuse and human smuggling during the route to the border between Mexico and the United States.

“Do not come, do not come. The United States will continue to comply with the law and secure the borders (…) Our priority is to discourage illegal migration (…) They only benefit the coyotes,” as traffickers are known people, he added.

To do this, Washington announced on Monday the creation of an “Alpha” working group against human traffickers in Mexico and Central America, the origin of most of the illegal immigrants who have arrived in record numbers in recent months in the United States, mainly Hondurans. , Salvadorans and Guatemalans.

The task force, under the command of the Department of Justice, will aim to “identify, dismantle and prevent” human trafficking from Guatemala and the Northern Triangle of Central America, according to a statement from the United States government after Harris’ official announcement. .

According to the same source, the work team “will act in collaboration” with the authorities of “counterpart” countries in search of “detecting operations of smuggling of migrants and human trafficking in the region.”

The task force will have the support of the State Department and will allow “the exchange of intelligence data and plan coordinated enforcement actions,” the press release stated.

“Our world is interconnected and interdependent. And we know that what happens abroad impacts our security and prosperity in the United States. That is the reason why I am in Guatemala today,” said the vice president this Monday.

Generate the opportunities

Harris considered that those who migrate “are fleeing some damage or cannot satisfy their basic needs by staying at home.” In Guatemala, almost 60% of its 17% million inhabitants live in poverty.

For this reason, he reiterated giving people “a sense of hope, that help is on the way”, in a region hard hit by COVID-19, violence and poverty, a situation that was aggravated in 2020 by the passage of two hurricanes.

Of course, he said, “hope does not exist by itself. It must be accompanied by relationships of trust, tangible results in terms of what we do as leaders to convince people that there is a reason to be hopeful about their future.” added.

“The United States recognizes that it is in our interest [to solve the problem], and it reflects our values to help create opportunities and share economic prosperity,” he said.

Harris also announced an initiative to provide $ 40 million over three years for the empowerment of young Guatemalan women.

The agreement on female empowerment was created in order to increase economic opportunities “that benefit young women, mostly from indigenous communities, who face substantial gender disparity,” the US embassy in Guatemala said in a statement.

Vice President Harris said during the press conference that this agreement is one of those that concerns her most as the first woman to reach the White House as President Joe Biden’s running mate.

Above all, she said, she is “very interested” in supporting the local women of Guatemala, who “are part of the culture and the economy, who have extraordinary skills and therefore have the ability to live well and be part of the growth of community”.

The investment of said program “will strengthen efforts aimed at preventing and combating the widespread practice of gender-based violence and trafficking in persons from areas with high levels of outbound migration, while expanding access to economic and justice opportunities and education “, specified the embassy of the North American country.

For his part, Giammattei offered Harris “a country that wants to cooperate, that wants to join forces.”

“The construction of these opportunities” will prevent the migration “of those young people who want to” leave “us and will generate the conditions in Guatemala so that they can find here the hope that they do not have today.”

Giammattei highlighted the “need to build walls of prosperity” on its borders with Mexico, with work programs that persuade citizens to migrate.

“We need to create in the minds of Guatemalans that possibility of generating hope that this is where they have to fight to build the country and not fight to risk their lives to go to other countries,” he emphasized.

The government presented a project to create 2.5 million jobs in 10 years.

With information from AFP, EFE and Reuters

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