I'd love to give Central America $1 billion

Central American leaders: investment will curb migration north

Northern Triangle Countries Present Their ‘Plan Central America’

Big Central America Aid Request Coming

I'd love to give Central America $1 billion for "Plan Central America." One of the major problems, however, is that the US uses the Millennium Challenge Corporation to identify countries and programs in which to invest hundreds of millions of dollars. Infrastructure projects like those identified by the leaders of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras would be perfect matches.

While El Salvador will have received over $700 million dollars after the completion of a second compact, Honduras and Guatemala do not qualify for compacts. Threshold programs, yes, but not the big money compact investments.

MCC forms partnerships with some of the world’s poorest countries, but only those committed to:

• good governance,

• economic freedom,

• and investments in their citizens.

While the US could come up with another program, one of the difficulties that the US has giving large sums of money to Guatemala and Honduras is that they do not qualify.

The Guatemalan and Honduran governments need to take measures to reduce corruption, support the rule of law, promote and protect and free and transparent media, stop killing their own citizens, etc. The US isn't looking at perfection. They are looking to invest in countries that need the investment and where we have some confidence that hundreds of millions of dollars will do some good. Hence the debate over whether El Salvador has done enough to justify a second $300 million compact.

While there are good reasons to provide these countries with multi-million dollar investments, does anyone sincerely believe that the governments and private sectors in Guatemala and Honduras have earned such an investment?