Zúñiga, Joe Biden’s special envoy for the Northern Triangle countries, responded to allegations made by Nayib Bukele, who stated weeks ago that the United States is trying to implement “recycled” plans in the region.
The United States wants to fight corruption in Central America to curb mass migration, said President Joe Biden’s diplomatic envoy for Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, the source of much of the growing influx of undocumented immigrants to the southern US border. , said Friday.
“Corruption is the driving force behind the instability and lack of development that has led us to end mass migrations for years,” said Ricardo Zúñiga, State Department Special Envoy for the North American Triangle.
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“So we have a great interest in ensuring stability and good governance in Central America and we want to work with those who share similar interests,” he said in an interview with AFP.
Zúñiga, who traveled to Guatemala and El Salvador last week and met with Honduran authorities in Washington, said the United States is making progress on the announced project to establish a regional anti-corruption task force.
“There will be a task force led by the Department of Justice and other partners that will assist governments and officials of Central America in their search for not only specific cases of corruption, but also systems that help combat and prevent impunity . corruption, ”he explained.
“The concrete implementation is something we are going to negotiate with partners in the region,” said Zúñiga, a Honduran-born American.
He stressed that efforts are already being made in the Northern Triangle to pursue transparency: in civil society, with prosecutors and in the independent press.
“There is a lot of work going on, which we will continue to support through our embassies and with the presence of our legal attachés and others,” he said.
Ricardo Zúñiga met with representatives from various institutions in El Salvador, including the Attorney General’s Office. Photo: Archives
Bukele’s foreign policy became increasingly alienated from Washington
Weeks ago, particularly on March 24, Salvadoran President, Nayib Bukele, strongly criticized the term “Northern Triangle” and ruled that if the United States were to seriously address the immigration issue in Central America, it should drop this concept.
In his words, published through his Twitter account, the president also said the United States must work with its “all-time” partners to promote proven solutions.
However, in the statement that sparked responses in Joe Biden’s special envoy, Bukele assured that the plans Washington is trying to implement in the region were “recycled” because they were implemented in 2014 and “didn’t work.”
Days later, on April 1, Bukele again questioned the term “Northern Triangle”, ensuring that any plan contemplating the term’s existence had “zero chances of success.”
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In the same tweet, the president referred to the work of several congressmen who have questioned the president’s policies in recent weeks, including California’s 35th district representative Norma Torres, who was attacked by Bukele and many of his social followers. . networks, stating that Congressman confused El Salvador with Ecuador.
Faced with this disqualification of the term encompassing the three countries of the region (Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador), a journalist from the medium La Voz de América asked Zúñiga if the US government’s plans would work without the full support of Bukele.
Zúñiga, for his part, replied, “We are not talking about reused plans, we have worked a lot with the Central American governments,” adding that there is a lot of cooperation on the part of Salvadoran institutions in the implementation of the plans. he tries to lead Joe Biden’s government, however, has made no direct comment about the president’s lack of support.