Posted on July 1, 2021. In the context of U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris’ last visit to Guatemala, where she told Central American people “do not come” to her country, she also emphasized the need to deal with the “root causes” of migration. This has been a central issue for the Biden administration in the region. Although it certainly is essential to address the structural factors pushing thousands of people to flee their countries of origin, this concept has been coopted to excuse U.S. responsibility for the economic and social crises in the countries of the Northern Triangle (El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras). To blame poverty and violence is to attack the symptoms without addressing the root cause. Who was it that empowered those governments and the plutocracies in those countries, helping to overthrow democratically elected governments in the past? The United States. And who was it that imposed a “free market” model that primarily serves the U.S. corporations that plunder the countries and displace the people? The United States.