When United States Vice President Kamala Harris called to congratulate incoming democratically elected Honduran President Iris Xiomara Castro, it marked a first for a Central American country to elect a female president. The newly elected President Castro has campaigned three times prior in 2013, 2017 and finally, securing the opportunity to lead in 2021.
The American Vice-President, Dr. Kamala Harris (she possesses a Juris Doctorate law) has limited her conversation with leaders of Honduras and El Salvador due to evidence of corruption; the theory could be, by lending credence to state administrations and the perception of corruption; one can look the other way. Nothing can be further from the truth. Instead, Vice President Harris hopes that President Castro can lead the way both in fighting corruption, empowering women and reducing corruption across all spectrums of government and commerce in Honduras. These are no small tasks and both ladies can benefit from each other.
Recently, the office the Vice President announced a significant uptick in the potential for private, monetary investments. This is a rather large influx of funds, up from the annual token, initial offering that come from the U.S.A in the form of humanitarian assistance. The idea of this unusual, billion-dollar private industry commitment/investment for the Northern Triangle countries is to reset the flow of commerce and ideally, reduce unwarranted migration by providing jobs. This provides an opportunity for American international corporations to evaluate their commitments and begin to diverge and offer logistics, services and manufacturing in these three countries. The workforce population of citizens from these countries welcome an opportunity to demonstrate, that with training and an incredible “can-do” spirit, they’re very willing to demonstrate workforce competence in a win-win scenario.
The office of Vice President Harris continues to work behind the scenes and efforts are slowly beginning to materialize private American investment flow towards Northern Triangle. The concept behind the American taxpayers eventually forking upwards of over one billion dollars is that it could propel private corporations to invest an additional $750 million US dollars in partnerships between the Northern Triangle countries of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. Vice President Harris is also soliciting donations from such countries as South Korea, Japan, Finland, Ireland to provide a sufficient base of private funding to pivot business and manufacturing towards these three countries.
Next door in Guatemala, locals have a few opinions with the direction on behalf of the United States.
“They are doing the right approach,” said Carmen Rosa de Leon, a government reform activist in Guatemala and one of a large cross-section of people who met with Harris when the vice-president traveled to Guatemala in June. “But unfortunately, maybe we needed that approach 10 years ago, not now.” Better late than never, but what is sorely needed is something similar to the massive Marshall Plan that was instrumental in Europe after the completion of World War Two. Can anyone argue that by providing opportunities for manufacturing and with that, jobs, can help reduce those citizens fleeing countries in the Northern Triangle?
Ms. De Leon is correct in her assumption that this approach needed to commence ten years ago, if not more. However, with the Guatemalan cease-fire agreement finalized in 1996, it effectively shut down 30+ years of gunfire between the Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca (URNG) and the government of Guatemala. To maintain an effective cease-fire agreement, the best indicator of success is time and as they say ‘…the proof is in the pudding…” and it has unequivocally stuck with much success. To date, there remains a very strong semblance of peace with tourism beginning to grow pre-Covid.
Both the government of Guatemala and the URNG are to be commended and congratulated; the agreement continues to remain solid and Guatemala continues to slowly build a future forward. This future includes bringing alleged criminals to justice and accounting for the massacre that has left over 250,000 mostly indigenous Mayan population dead.
Meanwhile, as for a potential influx of dollars flow into the Northern Triangle, the potential is rife for corruption to unintended recipient(s). In addition, critics will certainly point out that the new Honduran President has chosen to align more so with China than Taiwan. However, the people of Honduras worked with her leadership to prevent her husband, (then President Zelaya) of a coup d’état from the Honduran military. (He was instrumental in seeking out a non-binding resolution so that one can run for president multiple terms). He ended up serving three years, ending in 2009.
United States-Honduras foreign assistance in terms of monetary disbursements was near $126 million dollars for calendar year 2021. This compares with an excess of $660 million dollars in total remittances from Honduran workers who live overseas (including USA, Canada and other host countries) sending money home to families. If the Hondurans can invest in sending that significant amount of money home for basics, then there is very little reason why other countries can’t recognize that commitment as well. Honduras has a lot to offer beyond agriculture, textiles and producing local items for consumption.
The potential for corruption is always evident in nearly every country on the planet. It’s easy to judge those migrants who desire to leave Honduras and migrate northward. Some make it, only to be entrapped in a black-market, cash only economy. Others, if they’re fortunate to secure a green card, work menial low-wage jobs, sending remittances as often as possible, and return home with sufficient funds to retire early and build a house. Others, unfortunately fall prey to human trafficking, or worse, die on the journey after attempts at reaching their desired country.
Given that, it is much more of a challenge to understand the perils associated with human trafficking, or the conditions that lead to migration. Understanding the dilemma associated with the people from Honduras (and neighboring countries) during significant climate change requires a step back from initial media statements, requires patience and also a willingness to help others affect change for the better. Both Harris and Castro appear to be putting their best stiletto’s forward. Incremental change needs to have a metric, a timeline and consistent dialogue (with Vice President Harris and President Castro visiting one another’s country). As private business see government entities organically building upon relationships, then business could also (theoretically) step up.
Honduras, as well as the eastern coast of Caribbean Latin America has suffered significantly from the effects of climate change on top of inequities associated with access to Covid vaccines. When it rains, it pours. As for the new, incoming Honduran administration, whether proactive changes occur and eventually sticks, well, the proof will be in the pudding. Both President Castro and Vice-President Harris have a lot riding on their political futures as the opportunities for only success are glaringly evident..…something that warrants more than just phone calls.