US Allocates $310m for Central America, More Militarization

The U.S. will allocate $310 million to address the migratory crisis in Central America, the authorities reported on Tuesday.

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The decision comes after a meeting between U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris and Guatemala's President  Alejandro Giammattei, ahead of Harris's visit in June. The U.S. Vice-President office explained in a statement that humanitarian aid will cover droughts, food shortages, as well as the protection of migrants and asylum seekers.

Moreover, Guatemala announced an agreement with the U.S. "to establish a new joint border protection task force," including U.S. officials.

Nonetheless, a series of advocates and grassroots organizations such as the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES), School of the Americas Watch, Witness for Peace Solidarity Collective, and the Central American Resource Center (CARECEN) among others, denounced that this aid contributes to the militarization of the region and the strengthening of neoliberal policies that damage the communities and its natural resources and boost migration.

Moreover, these organizations are demanding the U.S. Congress stop funding these kinds of Central American policies that boost migration and perpetuate violence in the region. For instance, the organizations denounced that "Honduras campesino and indigenous communities are threatened by extractive projects funded by the U.S." Likewise, in Honduras "the narcostate uses U.S. funded security forces to violently repress defenders of human rights and democracy."

According to Aviva Chomsky, a specialist in Latin American studies in the Salem State University in Massachusetts, "the model Washington continues to promote is based on the idea that, if Central American governments can woo foreign investors with improved infrastructure, tax breaks, and weak environmental and labor laws, the “free market” will deliver the investment, jobs, and economic growth that (in theory) will keep people from wanting to migrate in the first place. Over and over again in Central America’s tormented history, however, exactly the opposite has happened."