The White House has revealed this Monday that it has paid for more than 17,000 radio spots, advertisements on social networks and even the publication of a comic to convince the population of Latin American countries not to emigrate to the United States.
“We have placed some 17,118 radio spots in Brazil, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras since January 12. In Spanish, Portuguese and six indigenous languages,” explained White House spokeswoman Jan Psaki at a press conference.
These spots broadcast on 33 stations would have reached 15 million listeners, far from the 26 million that would have been reached with paid ads on networks such as Facebook or Instagram.
“These ads have generated more than 73 million impressions in the target countries and we are also implementing creative perspectives to make sure we reach people,” explained Psaki.
Thus, he has referred to the publication of the comic ‘Dark’ by the US Embassy in Sal Salvador “to dissuade emigration with violence as a driver.” “We have reached 240,000 young Salvadorans,” said Psaki, who indicated that there have even been two episodes of an animated adaptation that have reached 3.6 million people.
This same Monday, the United States Government has appointed Ricardo Zúñiga as special envoy for the Northern Triangle, which will debut on a trip with senior White House officials. Washington has promised $ 4 billion to tackle the causes of these displacements.
Among the tasks of Zúñiga will be to contact the governments of Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, as well as representatives of civil society and the private sector with a view to “building a better future in these countries,” according to the official note.
The new envoy will debut accompanying the coordinator for the southwest border, Roberta Jacobson, and other White House officials on a trip that begins this Monday in Mexico. The Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere issues, Juan González, will later travel to Guatemala with Zúñiga.
US President Joe Biden has promised to turn the page on the zero tolerance immigration policies promoted by his predecessor, Donald Trump, despite the fact that Washington already assumes that the number of arrivals at the border will reach unprecedented levels in the short term. Two decades.
