A new US agenda for Central America
Jan 19,2021 - Last updated at Jan 19,2021
WASHINGTON, DC Most undocumented migrants crossing the United States’ southern border come from three small countries: El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. Known collectively as Central America’s “Northern Triangle”, these countries will receive an outsized amount of attention from US President-elect Joe Biden’s incoming administration.
In the past 70 years, the US has had a sporadic relationship with the three countries, tending to focus on the region only when a crisis emerges. The main drivers of forced migration from the Northern Triangle; lack of jobs, weak citizen security and bad governance, are the same ones that fuel the phenomenon in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Economic growth can help reduce migration: evidence suggests that interest in emigrating drops significantly when a country’s GNP per capita reaches about $8,000. Guatemala and El Salvador currently have a GNP per ca