Earlier this summer, Vice President Harris announced an additional $1.9 billion in corporate “commitments” in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras as part of the White House’s promotion of corporate expansion in the name of addressing the root causes of migration.
A recent In These Times article, “The White House Plan to Stem Migration Protects Corporate Profits – Not People”, by SOA Watch‘s Brigitte Gynther and Azadeh Shahshahani of Project South exposes the reality of some of these “corporate commitments.” From promoting garment industry sweatshops to an extremely profitable mobile cell and internet company, the article looks in detail at why the White House’s “Call to Action” is actually a celebration of corporate consolidation over the economies in northern Central America.
As the article explains, “If the White House were serious about addressing the true root causes of migration it would have honestly contended with the bloody U.S. history of intervention in the region, including coup d’etats and the financing and backing of military regimes as they carried out widespread atrocities. The United States must finally break free of the “banana republic” mentality that sees the region as a source of natural resources and cheap labor and begin to respect the autonomy and self-determination of the peoples in the region.”
