VP Harris meets Guatemala President Arévalo to discuss core migration issues

March 25 (UPI) -- Vice President Kamala Harris announced a series of commitments Monday to address the root causes of irregular migration from Guatemala, as she met with the country's newly sworn-in President Bernardo Arévalo at the White House.

"For the past three years, I have led our administration's efforts to address the root causes of migration from northern Central America and to create what we have named the 'Root Causes Strategy,'" Harris said before Monday's bilateral meeting.

"This meeting today reflects what we believe to be continuing strong support from the United States for our efforts to constantly save democracy, strengthen public institutions and fight corruption and promote economic prosperity and sustainable development that benefits all Guatemalans," Arévalo said.

The plan has five parts, with the vice president calling for the United States to "invest in economic development" in Guatemala and "to combat corruption and promote good governance."

The last three pillars respect "human rights and labor rights," "reduce violence" and "address gender-based violence."

"This work is improving lives and livelihoods in the region and addressing the factors that drive people to migrate to the United States," Harris told reporters Monday.

The Root Causes Strategy has helped "as many as 63,000 farmers increase their production and income, has reached nearly 3 million youth through primary and secondary education. We have trained more than 18,000 police officers and nearly 27,000 people to strengthen judicial systems. And we have supported thousands of labor and human rights activists throughout the region," Harris said.

The vice president said the United States plans to pledge an additional $170 million in economic support for Guatemala, which is home to more than 17 million people, for security assistance, economic, health and development.

Harris also unveiled a $50 million initiative with the Department of State's Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs which aims to "bolster the rule of law in security and justice institutions."

Partnering with the U.S. Peace Corps, Harris also announced the creation of the Central American Service Corps. The new branch plans to engage nearly 3,000 young people who are most at risk of migrating by engaging them with various programs aimed at keeping them in their native country. The White House said the CASC could in the next five years reach up to 25,000 young Guatemalans.

Central America Forward stakeholders, which is a public-private partnership, also announced its contribution.

"CAF has now generated more than $5.2 billion in private sector commitments for El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, including $1 billion of new commitments announced today," the White House said Monday in a statement.

"These private sector investments have already created more than 70,000 jobs in the region, provided skills training for more than 1 million people, brought more than 2.5 million people into the formal financial economy and connected more than 4.5 million people to the Internet," the White House added.

During her meeting with Arévalo, Harris also revealed that the United States will commit support for legal and other regulatory reforms to counter known extortion at maritime or airport locations.

U.S. officials plan to be in Guatemala in the coming months "to support clean energy and infrastructure development, facilitate private sector operations and promote sustainable economic development." They will work to expand commerce by promoting workers' rights and offering other technical assistance to encourage foreign trade, and other "climate smart" agriculture initiatives.

Along with new programming with USAID to promote and preserve Guatemalan conservation, the two countries hope to further advance women's rights by launching a legal reform fund project that will reduce barriers for women trying to compete in the workplace along with other initiatives targeted toward helping women. Another $1.5 million will be earmarked to help aid marginalized communities to "ensure public policies are inclusive and to promote greater accountability to public interests."

After the vice president's meeting, President Joe Biden met with President Arévalo to congratulate him on his recent inauguration. The two leaders discussed "good governance, effective migration management, along with the importance of upholding democracy," according to the White House.

President Arévalo is getting ready to host the next Los Angeles Declaration for Protection and Migration Summit, which addresses irregular migration and is set for later this spring.