Southern Border Coordinator at the White House, Roberta Jacobson, explained that Biden will set conditions for the 4,000 million he plans to deliver to El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala over the next four years.
Not a dollar of the 4,000 million that United States President Joe Biden wants to bring in Central America will fall into the hands of its presidents, said White House southern border coordinator Roberta Jacobson on Wednesday.
“None of the money we want to get from Congress and US taxpayers will go to the leaders of those governments,” Jacobson said at a White House press conference.
The official explained that Biden will set conditions for the 4,000 million he plans to deliver to Central America’s northern triangle (El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala) over the next four years.
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In particular, he indicated that Washington wants most of its aid to go to NGOs, international organizations and religious institutions working on the ground with the residents of those countries who, lacking opportunities, are forced to migrate to the United States. States. .
Washington’s announcement coincides with allegations of drug trafficking against Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, which came to light during a trial in New York against an alleged drug trafficker with whom the Honduran president has worked for years, prosecutors said.
When asked, Jacobson specifically avoided commenting on Hernández, but reiterated that Biden wants the aid to go to civil society organizations, rather than rely on Central American governments to distribute it.
“It is not that presidents in these countries are not important, but it is important to understand that we are going to work with civil society, with international organizations and with various international NGOs on the ground,” he said.
“We will work with officials with whom we can work, but I think it is very important that these countries make very explicit commitments to make progress in the fight against corruption. We know that will be difficult in some countries,” said Jacobson.
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And, without even mentioning Hernández, he added, “if you have officials who are weighed down by a cloud, then I think we should work with the organizations that we may have in those countries.”
The idea of imposing conditions on foreign aid is not new, and during the Barack Obama administration (2009-2017), Congress lobbied for funds to be linked to specific goals in the fight against corruption and drug trafficking.
Later, former President Donald Trump (2017-2021) suspended foreign aid to the Northern Triangle, as his governments were not doing enough to stop immigration to the North.
While Obama was vice president, Biden was central to the design of the Prosperity Alliance Plan for Central America’s Northern Triangle, which aimed to allocate 750 million to those countries to address the causes . of migration .: poverty, lack of economic opportunity and violence.
Biden has made it clear that he continues to believe in those principles, but his administration has emphasized that the fight against corruption will be a central part of his policy towards Central America.
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