TEGUCIGALPA, (Reuters) – Honduran officials yesterday called for U.S. aid to Central America to reduce violence that has fueled a surge of child migration to the United States, with the foreign minister calling for a “mini-Marshall plan” to attack the broader underlying problems.
Honduran President Juan Hernandez said Washington should help Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras fight gangs with a plan similar to U.S. anti-drug programs in Colombia and Mexico, as well as funds to lift growth in the impoverished region.
“One has to recognize that our countries can’t do it alone,” he said at a conference about the unaccompanied minors fleeing for the United States.
“We need help from the United States, from Mexico, because this is everyone’s problem.”
Honduran Foreign Minister Mireya Aguero told the conference that efforts to step up security at the U.S. border were not working and that U.S. aid would be better spent in Central America.
“It’s much more practical for the United States to launch a mini-Marshall plan, as they did after World War Two, to create opportunities and really get to the root of the problem in Central American countries that is fueling migration,” she said.
Named after top U.S. General George Marshall, the Marshall plan was a U.S. aid program to help rebuild shattered European economies after the destruction wrought by World War Two.
