Fabiola Martínez and Alonso Urrutia
La Jornada newspaper
Tuesday, December 21, 2021, p. 4
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador expressed his confidence that the United States will obtain the resources to invest in Central America and that the causes of forced migration are addressed in this way. The White House informed Mexico that it has already obtained 1.2 billion dollars for this purpose.
Likewise, the petition is in force so that together with Canada it participates in a regional program to grant work visas to undocumented persons who have participated in other plans of the governments of the three nations.
At a press conference, the Mexican president stressed that although there are already some schemes in this regard, it is necessary to expand them.
For us, he said, the most important thing is that people are not forced to emigrate, that they can work and be happy where they were born and where their cultures, their families are; “That is why we are insisting that the Central American countries be supported.
“And there is good news about that; That’s the basics, because no one abandons their people, their family for pleasure, they do it out of necessity (…) We have made considerable progress in the agreement with the United States to support Central America.
I would like Marcelo (Ebrard) to explain a report that the Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris, has just sent us on investment in that area; It’s good news
, celebrated.
The head of the Ministry of Foreign Relations (SRE) reported that Kamala Harris “has been leading an effort to promote investments in the countries of Central America (…) They have recently been publicizing, she herself reported that she has been committed to this date 1,200 millions of dollars derived from that initiative ”.
These are, Ebrard added, investments from different US companies; there are several, she made a presentation recently.
So, we look very favorably on the effort they have undertaken, because it coincides with what was discussed here at the National Palace between López Obrador and Vice President Harris
.
He showed his confidence that programmed investments will grow in 2022, but the commitments achieved at the moment show that there is interest in addressing the root causes that explain forced migration due to poverty.
Regarding Joe Biden’s project to regularize 11 million migrants, the foreign minister said that you cannot lobby or try to interfere or influence a legislative process in another country.
