Andrés López Obrador calls on Joe Biden to “participate” in a solution to the migration crisis in Central America

Arriving in Havana for an official visit to Cuba and after passing through Belize, the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, requested more participation from Washington in joint solutions to migration crisis in the United States from countries in Central America.

During his last stop on a series of visits that included Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, AMLO arrived in Belize City on Saturday, where he thanked Prime Minister Juan Antonio (John) Briceño for regularizing approximately 40,000 migrants in Central America who “live and work faithfully.” In that country.

As part of his plan to support his neighbors in Central America and thus stop the migration crisis, López Obrador announced tariff suspension for exports from the Belize border to Mexico, especially agricultural products, beef and staple foods.

“The opportunities they give us along with the tariffs will allow us to sell a lot of products,” Briceño said. Mexico will also favor about 2,000 farmers in the “Sembrando Vidas” program, which will receive payment for planting fruit trees and timber on their own plots.

Later, the Mexican president arrived in Cuba at the last stop of his tour, to address the issue of immigration, at a time when the island is experiencing widespread exodus due to the economic crisis. His official visit will begin this Sunday.

Before arriving in Havana, AMLO requested again in the United States “no country” of the hemisphere will not be included in the next Summit of the Americas to be held in Los Angeles in June. From Washington they had already expected that Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua would not be invited because their actions “did not respect democracy.”

During his tour, the Mexican president also promoted his social programs to contain irregular migration in the so -called Northern Triangle of Central America.

Strictly speaking, López Obrador’s claim is due to the fact that thousands of undocumented Central American, Cuban and Haitian migrants typically remain on the border between Mexico and the United States, looking for work in North America, overwhelmed by violence and poverty. which oppresses their nations.

On Friday, together with his counterpart Xiomara Castro in Honduras, AMLO asserted that “oligarchic economic policies” had resulted in “the destruction of the social fabric and the forced relocation of millions”, depopulation of farms. , separating families and exposing migrants to danger on their journey. .

López Obrador requested to create job creation programs. “Para rito the will of Latin Americans is not enough; We also need the United States to be clearly involved in solving the problem that also affects it and help fund those programs, ”he added.

Castro assured that “migration is a result of the difficult conditions our countries are experiencing, from the Rio Grande to the south.”

Honduras will host an International Conference in Central America in the second half of 2022 to advance plans “that address the structural causes of migration and include concrete investment actions for development,” the president said. of Honduran.

In El Salvador, after a meeting with President Nayib Bukele on Friday, AMLO said that “the United States, the key player of the migratory phenomenon, must, therefore, be mutually responsible in finding a solution, its change in immigration policy“.

For his part, Bukele expressed his support for Mexico’s proposal for a joint plan. “We support Mexico’s proposal to the United States to make a joint plan in which we all contribute according to our economies,” he emphasized.

Since 2019, Mexico has funded its “Sembrando Vida” program in El Salvador, which also benefits Honduras and plans to extend it to Guatemala. On Thursday, from Guatemala, López Obrador called for speed on financial support from Washington.

“It seems inexplicable to me that the approval of the 4,000 million dollars they are offering to invest in welfare generation in Central American countries has been delayed on Capitol Hill,” he said.

On Wednesday, AMLO announced its country will strengthen the Guatemalan border before a possible massive arrival of migrants trying to cross into the United States.

This could happen after the announced elimination of a U.S. proposal (Title 42), scheduled for May 23, allowing the deportation of migrants to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Over the past three weeks, the United States has caught approximately 7,800 irregular migrants daily in the border area, nearly five times the average in 2014-2019.

With information from the AFP

GRB