Washington, United States
Honduras’ Secretary of State Lisandro Rosales asked this Thursday to address the causes of the caravans of immigrants leaving Central America for the United States, warning that they have a ‘political’ goal aimed at is to ‘destabilize’ his country, for Mexico and even the Washington government.
In an interview with Efe, during a visit to the US capital, Rosales referred to the “very productive” arrangement with which he had Roberta Jacobson, the US President’s Special Assistant, Joe Biden, and National Security Adviser, Juan González, whom he considered “the first high-level meeting” with the incoming government.
He also spoke about the immigration reform proposal led by the Biden administration and the new approach the White House wants to give to its relationship with Central America.
HOPE MIGRATORY REFORM
Ask: How do you rate the relationship you will build with the president’s government? Joe Biden? How did this first contact with your delegates make you feel?
Answer: Very positive. President Biden knows the region very well. In the government of the president (Barack) Obama, as Vice President, he led the issue of the ‘Northern Triangle’, maintained a close and close relationship with the President (of Honduras, Juan Orlando) Hernández (…) As President, he set the tone for the importance of Central America and Mexico to him.
P: One of the announcements recently made by President Biden was to design a mechanism to deal with migration together with the countries of the region, especially the countries of Central America and those of the Northern Triangle. What do you expect from these kinds of talks and from the immigration reform promoted by the president? Biden?
R: It gives us a lot of hope. We have about 1.3 million Hondurans who live here, about 700,000, of which 800,000 are illegal who have come for various circumstances. In the beginning they left for a security issue, but in Honduras we have managed to make a very significant change over the past six years, a reduction from 90 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants to 37 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, which we have yet to reduce, but that it has been important and that the cause of migration is now no longer the uncertainty advocated a few years ago; Now it is the economic problem and it is deepened by the pandemic, the impact it has had on the Honduran economy and the damage caused by the storms Eta and Iota.
It is valuable to us that a chance is given Hondurans to be legal, to work, to pay their taxes and to trade normally in a country that received them, but we also talked about the next steps to take to seek those investment opportunities with North American companies that can go to Honduras moving away.
BEING TOGETHER IN THE FAMILY IS A HUMAN RIGHT
P.: The policy of the president Biden its central axis is the reunification of families. There are more than half a thousand children who have not been reunited with their families Government of Honduras the presidency could help Biden so that if there are Honduran children, or Honduran families within these that are separated, they can finally reunite them?
R.: We have offices in our consular network protection against migration. We discussed exactly that topic with the ambassador Jacobson in the sense of maintaining communication through our consular network and being able to get such feedback as may be necessary for reunification.
There are about 1,300 children, of different nationalities, who should participate in the family reunification that we have been betting on.
We believe it is a human right to be together as a family and it is important that this is done quickly and safely for the children who have suffered in recent years.
CARAVANS, A MOVEMENT OF PEOPLE
P. Let’s talk about the last caravan that was organized. What happened to this caravan? What do you appeal to the people for the caravans? What happens behind the caravans that leave?
R: First, we need to address the causes of the caravans. Second, we need to identify who are the organizers of this, because there is an inappropriate purpose for these kinds of circumstances.
The caravans are not organized in Honduras, there are external factors and we have information from surveys conducted through intelligence sources involving foreigners in these types of organizations.
I believe that we, and we have just suggested it to Mr Juan González and Mrs Jacobson, that we should prosecute these human trafficking networks that arise, because these caravans do not have the simple goal of mobilizing, but rather have a political purpose.
If we can see who is organizing these groups, it is the Venezuelan-related groups that want to destabilize not only Honduras, but Guatemala, Mexico, and even the United States on that route that is being given.
We need to see what these types of people really are who unscrupulously attack Hondurans, who endanger them, who endanger them on a route of grief and pain that has already produced deceased people, that has already produced mutilated people. And that’s where these unscrupulous people who promote these types of caravans are hiding.
We have clearly established that we need to amend the laws where it allows the prosecution of these criminal gangs dedicated to human trafficking that the caravan is human trafficking.
(…) But this type of caravans only tells us that there is a purpose to create chaos, to cause instability without worrying about the rights of people who, for one reason or another, embark on this type of adventure.
Question: How do you rate Guatemala and Mexico’s response to this caravan in 2021?
R: They have the right to defend their territories. Mexico’s response to transferring military units to the border is a very justified right of Mexico, including Guatemala.
We believe that there should be no disrespect, but, as I said, there are unfavorable interests of countries that want to destabilize the Central American region and try to do that through these types of irregular migration movements.
HONDURAS DO NOT RECEIVE FOREIGNERS UNDER ASYLUM AGREEMENTS
P: The asylum cooperation agreements signed with the Donald Trump administration. Ambassador Jacobson said they were not launched in the case of Honduras.
R: I understand that there was a statement from the White House in the last few minutes saying that this cooperation agreement on asylum had been suspended. We have not received any exiles or asylum seekers included in this agreement.
But we do need to go ahead and talk to the new government about the issues and we did it with Ambassador Jacobson too, because part of the deals was the chance for workers from both the agricultural and cruise industries to come to work in the US and it was something that she started and accelerated a topic of conversation to find alternatives for people.
We do not receive a foreigner on national territory. Whether (the agreement) will be suspended is a determination of the United States, but we do want to continue in that dialogue about the possibility of legally migrating with work visas to the United States. EFE