Harris: Nearly $3.2B in private investment for Central America
Vice President Kamala Harris said Tuesday that the Biden administration’s work to attract investment to Central America, part of the U.S. effort to reduce migration, has generated $3.2 billion in privatesector commitments.
“We know the American people will benefit from stable and prosperous neighbors,” she said during remarks on the second day of the Summit of the Americas, which brings together countries from across the hemisphere. “And when we provide economic opportunity for people in Central America, we address an important driver of migration.”
President Joe Biden, who arrives at the summit on Wednesday, tasked Harris last year with addressing the root causes of migration, which routinely strains U.S. resources at the border with Mexico. Progress has been slow, a reflection of the region’s intractable problems and what some critics describe as U.S. neglect.
Harris said she would focus on empowering women who face poverty and violence in their home countries. The effort is known as “In Her Hands,” and it aims to connect more women to the banking system, help them participate in agriculture and provide them with training in coding and cybersecurity. Her speech followed a roundtable with women leaders from Central America.
This week’s summit, which is being hosted by the U.S. for the first time since the inaugural event in 1994, is an opportunity for Harris to connect with leaders from Latin America and the Caribbean as she welcomes them to her home state.
With her focus on the region, Harris is following in the footsteps of Biden himself, who worked on migration issues when he served as vice president to President Barack Obama. However, Harris has taken just two trips to the region since taking office.
In recent days, she and the president have been working the phones to shore up attendance among leftist leaders who have been critical of the U.S. decision to exclude the authoritarian governments of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela from the Los Angeles summit.
But the effort yielded few results. Among those staying
home are the presidents of Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras — the only three leaders Harris has met in her two trips to the region.
Harris reiterated her anti-corruption goals — “we must promote the rule of law” — in her remarks Tuesday. The announcement that private-sector commitments have reached $3.2 billion includes $1.2 billion that was announced in December and another $1.9 billion being detailed this week.