Central American leaders discuss alliance for prosperity plan during summit of the Americas.
| Autor | Reynolds, Louisa |
During the VII Summit of the Americas held in Panama City on April 10-11, Presidents Otto Perez Molina of Guatemala, Juan Orlando Hernandez of Honduras, and Salvador Sanchez Ceren of El Salvador presented a blueprint for the Plan for the Alliance for Prosperity in the Northern Triangle to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, US President Barack Obama, and private-sector representatives.
The leaders of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador began to work with US Vice President Joe Biden on the Plan for the Alliance for Prosperity in June 2014 in response to the humanitarian crisis triggered by the exodus of large numbers of unaccompanied children and teenagers trying to reach the US in early 2014 (NotiCen, Aug. 14, 2014, and Aug. 28, 2014).
During his first visit to Central America in June 2014, Biden urged Central American leaders to dispel myths regarding the US government's immigration policy toward unaccompanied minors, but he also admitted that stemming rising levels of emigration required systemic change and massive investment in security, governance, and social welfare.
In November, Presidents Perez Molina, Sanchez Ceren, and Hernandez presented a plan to promote economic, social, and institutional development in their countries during a conference on investment opportunities in Central America hosted in Washington by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
The actions proposed shaped the Plan for the Alliance for Prosperity in the Northern Triangle, which includes measures to boost economic growth, employment, access to health care and education, and improved security conditions. El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala have some of the highest crime and poverty rates in the Western Hemisphere, and as a result of these conditions almost one in 10 of their citizens seek to emigrate, mostly to the US.
In early March, Biden traveled to Guatemala for the second time and discussed the ambitious US$1 billion assistance package. "The challenges ahead are formidable. But if the political will exists, there is no reason Central America cannot become the next great success story of the Western Hemisphere," wrote Biden in a New York Times column published on Jan. 29.
Biden compared the Plan for the Alliance for Prosperity in the Northern Triangle with Plan Colombia and argued that Colombia has been plagued by similar problems, including violence and corruption. However, since the implementation of Plan Colombia 15 years ago, he said, the country has...
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