white House Guatemala’s president was forced to defend Kamala Harris on Monday after she said she had not heard from the White House since the vice president’s visit in June, insisting she was still dealing with mass migration. was in charge of addressing the ‘root causes’ of the
He was given that role in March by Biden, who was tasked with liaising with El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala as the administration faced an increase in the number of people reaching the southern border.
But during his regular daily briefing, saki It was asked whether the vice president continued in the role.
“She is, and I just announced a commitment that she is announcing this afternoon,” Psaki said, referring to the $1.2 billion investment from businesses in Central American economies.
‘Well, then why is it that he hasn’t spoken to the President of Guatemala since June?’ Fox News’ Peter Ducey continued. ‘That’s six months.’
Psaki replied: ‘I know that I have seen such a strange report of the President of Guatemala saying that he had no contact with the White House, which is wrong.’
White House press secretary insists Vice President Kamala Harris is still ready to address the ‘root causes’ of mass migration on Monday
Immigration is one of the major challenges facing the administration in general, and Harris in particular, as she manages the turnout numbers, hostile headlines and repercussions for departing staff.
Last week, Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei claimed he had not heard from the White House in months.
‘We had many conversations with your ambassador, but’ [between] My presidency and the White House, no,’ he told Fox News.
‘I once spoke to Joe Biden as I introduced myself. Then we had the visit of Vice President Harris. On matters of state and migration, we had Mr. Alejandro Meyercas. Other than that direct communication, no, we don’t have it.’
The dispute threatened to stifle $540 million in new commitments from the private sector for Central America.
Initiatives included a push by Nespresso to support coffee growing in Honduras and El Salvador, a Microsoft pledge to connect millions of people to the Internet, and a $100 million commitment from Mastercard to promote digital payments and e-commerce .
Harris in May appealed to the private sector to help support job opportunities and economic growth, to prevent families from moving north in search of better economic prospects.
But record numbers of migrants continue to flood the US border with Mexico, with more than 1.6 million encounters with customs and border security since Joe Biden took office.
Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei said in an interview Wednesday (right) that he has only spoken to Harris once – when he visited Guatemala in June (pictured left)
Migrants build a temporary shelter along the U..-Mexico border wall on December 9 as they wait for transportation to the US Border Patrol Processing Center
Thousands of migrants continue to come to the border every day. Here a caravan moves on the Puebla-Mexico highway toward the US on Thursday
During Joe Biden’s stay in office, Customs and Border Protection has dealt with more than $1.6 million in migrants along the southern border with Mexico
Harris’s compatibility is disappointingly low, with only 40 percent approval, according to one Los Angeles Times Average. Thirty-three percent of respondents disapprove of his job as Biden’s No.
In the same approval tracking, Harris’ approval fell below her disapproval rating for the first time in early June, which was around the same time that she was visiting Guatemala and Mexico as part of her frontline Caesar role.
Despite all this, Harris shrugged off criticism of his first year as vice president amid reports of a feud between him and President Biden. She wouldn’t answer any questions directly related to what she learned over the past year when asked in an interview last week by the San Francisco Chronicle or addressing her failures in the role.
‘There’s nothing about this job that’s supposed to be easy,’ Harris said. ‘If I have something coming up, it’s because it needs to be addressed and because, by definition, it won’t be easy.’
He said, ‘If it was easy, it would have been handled before it came to me.’
Migrant part of a caravan bound for the US boarding a truck on the Puebla-Mexico highway in Mexico on Thursday, December 9
Migrants walk along a highway as they travel in a caravan towards Mexico City on their way to the US border on December 9
Harris will not twice directly answer questions about whether she wants him to do something different in his year as vice president.
“I love people, and what we’re doing is directly impacting people,” Harris said.
He also dismissed reports that claimed he thinks Bluetooth earphones aren’t as safe as ‘ridiculous’
The Vice President convened a meeting with private sector CEOs on Monday afternoon to discuss his promise to invest in Central America. Microsoft President Brad Smith at the Round Table Conference; Paula Santilli of PepsiCo’s Latin American division; Nespresso CEO Guillaume Le Conf; David McLennan of Cargill; and Juan Pablo Mata of Grupo Mariposa, a food and beverage company based in Guatemala.
The seven new investments are coming from Care International, Cargill, Grupo Mariposa, Parkdale Mills, PepsiCo, JDE Petes and PriceSmart.
Mastercard, Microsoft, Nespresso and Partnerships for Central America already had commitments with Harris Call to Action, but are announcing additional action and investments Monday in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.
The biggest new investment comes from PepsiCo, which plans to spend $190 in northern Central America by 2025. These investments include improvement of infrastructure and manufacturing plants, new distribution routes and expansion of IT projects.
Harris’ approval rating had dropped from her disapproval in early June, at the time of her visit to Guatemala and Mexico. Her approval currently sits at a disappointing 40 percent.
Cargill and Parkdale Mills each pledged $150 million for agricultural and manufacturing projects.
Nespresso is also committed to supporting the region’s economy with a minimum of $150 million in coffee purchases, price premiums and technical support by 2025.
Microsoft, which previously promised Internet access to 3 million people in the region, will fulfill its commitment to 4 million people. It is also now promising to teach digital skills to 100,000 people.
Back on May 27, Harris announced a call to action from business and private entities to help address the root cause of migration by promoting economic opportunity in the Northern Triangle nations.
These commitments now total more than $1.2 billion.
Harris announced the new commitments during closing remarks at a virtual event co-organized by the State Department and the US Chamber of Commerce, initially in collaboration with the Partnership for Central America.
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