Washington, Government officials are in Central America this week to “negotiate” agreements that prevent their citizens from crossing Mexico and reaching the country in search of opportunities, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo informed Monday.
“We have teams that are working there (in Central America) to get agreements with those countries to put the responsibility where it belongs and make sure that its citizens are not the ones who have to cross Mexico and enter the US,” Pompeo explained. Press conference.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs did not specify in which countries these US officials are located, although in the past Washington has held talks on migration with the Northern Triangle (Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador), where most of the irregularly arrived migrants come from. To USA.
“We are also going to work with the Central American countries, and a good part of the people who come to our country through Mexico are not originally from Mexico, we have great expectations that they will also contribute,” said the head of diplomacy. U.S.
The authorities of both countries arrived last week to an agreement that forces Mexico to increase the police presence on its border with Guatemala; but in exchange it avoided the imposition as of this same Monday of tariffs of 5% to all the Mexican imports.
In a post-pact statement, Washington welcomed the so-called “Marshall Plan” for the economic development of southern Mexico and the Northern Triangle, which was designed with the help of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the UN organ that promotes economic and social development in Latin America.
That support, said Pompeo today, does not mean that Washington will contribute financially to the plan, as claimed by the Mexican government, which has asked the White House to invest 4.8 billion dollars.
“The US is prepared to do the things we need to do, but we have not signed any commitments associated with this agreement, we have not offered any assistance to the Government of Mexico to achieve results, nor have we done it with Central America,” said Pompeo.
He also said that Washington will offer economic resources to Mexico or the Northern Triangle only when it is in the interest of the “American people,” but considered that “in the first place, those nations have the responsibility to deal with the problems of migration. of their countries. “
At the end of May, the acting secretary of National Security, Kevin K. McAleenan, has already reached an agreement with the countries of the Northern Triangle of Central America to support them in the fight against drug trafficking, money laundering and illegal arms trafficking.
According to The Washington Post, this agreement included the sending of 80 US agents to the border between Mexico and Guatemala to advise the Guatemalan immigration and police authorities. (EFEUSA)
