CITY OF PANAMA –
On the last day of the Ministerial Conference on Migration and Protection held in Panama CitySecretary of State Anthony Blinken said part of the commitment made during the meeting was to “support countries that are hosting migrants and establish safe migration routes”.
The secretary also reiterated that the meeting aims to “lay the groundwork for the next Summit of the Americas, to be held June 6-10 in Los Angeles, California.
“We can transform the lives of our most vulnerable fellow citizens and the future of our region,” he said.
Although the dominant topic of the meeting, which was attended by the ministries of 22 countries of the continent, was the search for mechanisms to reduce irregular migration, issues such as the fight against corruption and the rule of law in the region were also raised.
Blinken, accompanied by Minister of National Security Alejandro Mayorkas, reiterated that “corruption, political repression and climate change” are some of the “profound” causes driving migration and called for work to be done on them.
El Salvador, marked
The secretary also referred to the situation that El Salvador in a state of emergency proposed by President Nayib Bukele and the negative impact on the human rights of the population.
“We can fight violence and crime while protecting civil rights and fundamental freedoms,” Blinken said.
“El Salvador has experienced setbacks in democratic governance, separation of powers and the rule of law. And we hope that President Bukele will step forward to address some of these setbacks,” he added.
For her part, Panamanian Foreign Minister Erika Mouynes stressed the importance of countries formulating proposals to gain the support of other governments and multilateral organizations to also reduce irregular migration.
According to the Panamanian foreign minister, the region must “speak with one voice”, including in multilateral institutions, in order to ensure joint financing. “We will only survive this ordeal if we get through it together,” he said.
For his part, Mayorkas reiterated that the United States too will try to repeat the migration deals with Cuba, which had been discontinued, although it was not specified which.
shared responsibility
“The idea of shared responsibility was a very strong point in today’s session,” Blinken said at the press conference offered to conclude the session.
Referring to the commitments made, the head of US diplomacy said that close coordination between all countries involved is necessary.
He also said that it is important that this linkage of strategies is not only between governments, but “also between international organizations, financial institutions, civil society,” among others.
Speaking about US strategy, Bliken said that part of the plan is to get to the bottom of the root causes of irregular immigration: “What drives people to make the decision to leave their homes, their families to leave, to leave their country, to leave everything they know, to undertake a most dangerous journey?”
However, he insisted that such a problem must be addressed in a “sustainable” way.
a regional plan
Mayorkas, on the other hand, claimed that the confrontation with irregular immigration over the past two years has made the task “more difficult and more urgent” considering the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and the natural threats that have hit Cuba. the region.
He also stressed the need for cooperation. “We have to consider regionally how we can stop the flows via illegal routes,” he emphasized.
Mayorkas described the US strategy as a multi-component plan that creates “orderly and safe ways so that people do not have to risk their lives”.
Republican government critics blame President Joe Biden for the current record number of irregular detentions of migrants, especially on the southern border.
Their arguments point to the president’s decision to reverse former President Donald Trump’s era policies, which would have encouraged people to come to the country.
The number of immigrants detained by border patrol last March surpassed any in the past twenty years, according to this federal agency. At least 221,303 times the patrol detained migrants at the border with Mexico, a 34% increase from the previous month.
* In collaboration with Luis Felipe Rojas, VOA journalist, from Miami.
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