US officials have said Biden’s management approach is the opposite of that of the Trump administration (with whom Bukele had an affinity), where they prioritized stopping the immigration flow and downplayed the causes.
President Nayib Bukele on Wednesday suggested to the United States that “it should abandon the concept of the ‘Northern Triangle'” to address the immigration issue at the southern border.
Bukele responded in this way to a series of tweets from Washington Post journalist Nick Miroff, who published that “much of the conversation about border solutions is based on the idea of a violent and undifferentiated mass called the Northern Triangle, but this thought persists. more detached from the current reality of Central American migration ”.
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“If the United States is to seriously tackle immigration at the southern border, it really needs to let go of the Northern Triangle concept and start working with its all-time partners to pursue PROVEN solutions,” the president wrote via his Twitter account.
Photo: image for illustrative and non-commercial purposes / twitter.com / nayibbukele / status / 1374837378104328194
Miroff shared data on migrants, including children, from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, member states of the so-called Northern Triangle, in different years and compares the figures.
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“Honduras remains unstable, with deep-rooted gang violence, deep poverty, poor rural harvests and now devastating damage from hurricanes. Many Hondurans see migration almost as a form of protest, a rejection of the country’s political elite, which are increasingly linked to drugs, ”he said.
Regarding Guatemala, he pointed out that “it has the most developed smuggling networks, high unemployment and a young population. Rural coyotes (human traffickers) have benefited from the desire for family reunification, the failure of subsistence farming amid drought and climate change ”.
Regarding El Salvador, he indicated that “the waves of migration have responded to a great extent to the violence and insecurity of the gangs in recent years and that, despite authoritarian tendencies, the popular Bukele government seems to show that improvements in the security reduce emigration. “.
US officials have reiterated that the new administration’s approach is diametrically opposed to that of the previous administration, of Donald Trump and with whom Bukele had an affinity, where they focused exclusively on halting the flow of migration and downplayed the causes of this exodus. of people, such as a solid institutionality, transparency and creation
Congressman Torres: “Many migrants are escaping narcogovernments”
Last Wednesday, Democratic Congressman Norma Torres attributed the increase in unaccompanied minors and irregular migrants to the “corrupt and failed” governments of the countries of Central America’s Northern Triangle.
In a video posted to her Twitter account, lawmakers stated that she went to Carrizo Springs, a Texas town a few miles from major border points between the United States and Mexico, “ to investigate the circumstances in which children traveling alone , are found. . “To the northern country. These are for the most part of Central American origin.
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Likewise, the Democratic congressman pointed out that “this is a crisis caused by the narco governments and by the corrupt and failed leaders” of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.
The United States government has already indicated that it has no intention of tolerating corrupt governments in the region. In particular, US officials have withdrawn their pledge to punish corruption and human rights violations in El Salvador.
Recently, the Joe Biden administration appointed Ricardo Zúñiga, a Honduran professional diplomat with extensive experience, as special envoy for the Northern Triangle.
Zúñiga’s mission will be to lead diplomatic efforts in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras and advise the White House on how to implement resources and programs aimed at curbing irregular migration.
Bukele recently said that insecurity is one of the main reasons for the migration of Salvadorans to various destinations, mostly to the United States.
“The main reasons for migration are uncertainty and lack of economic opportunities. Migration will only decline if we fix those two things, ”the president said in an interview with Fox News.
Despite a noticeable drop in violence in recent years, El Salvador is under siege by gangs with the highest number of recorded killings. Forcible displacements of civilians in populated or rural areas are also attributed to these criminal structures.
According to data from the Directorate-General for Migration, the reasons for irregular migration in El Salvador include the search for better living conditions, family reunification and violence.
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