{"id":5663,"date":"2021-07-22T16:30:35","date_gmt":"2021-07-22T16:30:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=5663"},"modified":"2021-07-22T16:30:35","modified_gmt":"2021-07-22T16:30:35","slug":"us-investment-alone-wont-solve-central-americas-migrant-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=5663","title":{"rendered":"US investment alone won\u2019t solve Central America\u2019s migrant crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\n“Vice President Kamala Harris recently announced a partnership with 12 private-sector companies and organizations to support \u201cinclusive economic development<\/a>\u201d in the Northern Triangle of Central America, which includes Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. US government agencies, including the State Department, will also work with governments in the region to remove impediments to international investment and foster new private-sector partnerships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the commitments, Mastercard is supporting 1 million small businesses in the region; Chobani is creating a startup incubator for food entrepreneurs in Guatemala; Microsoft is expanding broadband access to up to 3 million people by next July; and Nespresso is starting to source coffee from El Salvador and Honduras and expanding its existing operations in Guatemala with a minimum $150 million investment by 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though the lack of foreign investment is far from the only factor driving people to make the journey north, the idea is that improving economic conditions will contribute to overall stability in the region, which has long suffered from persistent corruption, weak government institutions, and high levels of violent crime.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“there\u2019s a long way to go in persuading would-be migrants that the economic opportunities at home are better than what they might find in the US.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“direct foreign investment in the region has been minimal in recent decades. In 2019, the last year for which there is available data, foreign investment to El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala was just under $2.2 billion<\/a> combined, according to data from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. By comparison, migrants who left those countries sent a total of $22 billion in remittances<\/a> back home that year.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“the levels of foreign investment required to change the calculus around people\u2019s decisions to migrate is much larger than what the region has received in the past. Harris\u2019s initiative, therefore, only represents a starting point.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“\u201cIn order for Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala to really compete for good jobs, there is a bit of a homework that needs to be done in terms of preparing the actual workforce in these countries to be in a position to assimilate the possibility of a Microsoft or Google or any other technology company that wants to do heavy investments in these countries,\u201d Chacon said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That means improving education \u2014 and not just formal education, but also vocational training that can set up students to fill niches sought out by international investors.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Costa Rica, which brought in $2.5 billion<\/a> in direct foreign investment in 2019 \u2014 more than all of the Northern Triangle countries combined \u2014 can serve as a potential model in that respect. Unlike the Northern Triangle, it has invested in preparing a qualified workforce to be competitive, and not just for low-paying jobs, Chacon said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cInvestors in Costa Rica are very confident that the rules are there solidly in place, that they have a very good system of checks and balances, and that there is hardly any corruption anybody can point to,\u201d he said. \u201cThat is very different from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.\u201d”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“\u201cIn the Northern Triangle countries, we don\u2019t really have any democratically-minded or reform-minded [government] partners,\u201d Angelo said. \u201cAnd so I think it\u2019s only natural that the US government would seek to partner with the private sector, and particularly with American companies that we know generally abide by the rule of law.\u201d”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.vox.com\/policy-and-politics\/2021\/6\/18\/22534859\/harris-investment-central-america-migrant<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Vice President Kamala Harris recently announced a partnership with 12 private-sector companies and organizations to support \u201cinclusive economic development\u201d in the Northern Triangle of Central America, which includes Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. US government agencies, including the State Department, will also work with governments in the region to remove impediments to international investment and foster new private-sector partnerships.<\/p>\n

Among the commitments, Mastercard is supporting 1 million small businesses in the region; Chobani is creating a startup incubator for food entrepreneurs in Guatemala; Microsoft is expanding broadband access to up to 3 million people by next July; and Nespresso is starting to source coffee from El Salvador and Honduras and expanding its existing operations in Guatemala with a minimum $150 million investment by 2025.<\/p>\n

Though the lack of foreign investment is far from the only factor driving people to make the journey north, the idea is that improving economic conditions will contribute to overall stability in the region, which has long suffered from persistent corruption, weak government institutions, and high levels of violent crime.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“there\u2019s a long way to go in persuading would-be migrants that the economic opportunities at home are better than what they might find in the US.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“direct foreign investment in the region has been minimal in recent decades. In 2019, the last year for which there is available data, foreign investment to El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala was just under $2.2 billion combined, according to data from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. By comparison, migrants who left those countries sent a total of $22 billion in remittances back home that year.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“the levels of foreign investment required to change the calculus around people\u2019s decisions to migrate is much larger than what the region has received in the past. Harris\u2019s initiative, therefore, only represents a starting point.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“\u201cIn order for Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala to really compete for good jobs, there is a bit of a homework that needs to be done in terms of preparing the actual workforce in these countries to be in a position to assimilate the possibility of a Microsoft or Google or any other technology company that wants to do heavy investments in these countries,\u201d Chacon said.<\/p>\n

That means improving education \u2014 and not just formal education, but also vocational training that can set up students to fill niches sought out by international investors.” <\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“Costa Rica, which brought in $2.5 billion in direct foreign investment in 2019 \u2014 more than all of the Northern Triangle countries combined \u2014 can serve as a potential model in that respect. Unlike the Northern Triangle, it has invested in preparing a qualified workforce to be competitive, and not just for low-paying jobs, Chacon said.<\/p>\n

\u201cInvestors in Costa Rica are very confident that the rules are there solidly in place, that they have a very good system of checks and balances, and that there is hardly any corruption anybody can point to,\u201d he said. \u201cThat is very different from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.\u201d”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“\u201cIn the Northern Triangle countries, we don\u2019t really have any democratically-minded or reform-minded [government] partners,\u201d Angelo said. \u201cAnd so I think it\u2019s only natural that the US government would seek to partner with the private sector, and particularly with American companies that we know generally abide by the rule of law.\u201d”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[1231,272,355,25,314],"class_list":["post-5663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article-share","tag-central-america","tag-foreign-affairs","tag-foreign-policy","tag-immigration","tag-international-relations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5663"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5663\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5664,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5663\/revisions\/5664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}