infrastructure in those countries. for example, microsoft is going to be investing in access to broadband. so, you know, that s a start and a lot of the companies have been reluctant to invest in the region in the past because of the corruption. so the government now believes that with these anti-corruption measures that the vice president announced, including an anti-corruption task force led by the justice department, that they can sort of work with these companies in the private sector to boost investment and also perhaps tackle corruption, which is going to be a much more difficult and long-term issue. dan, i don t need to tell you that there s the policy piece of this and then there s the politics piece of this, and one of the many places where those two areas overlap is i think the administration has to be able to point to some results and some successes, which is incredibly challenging because we are talking about complex problems and we are talking about long-term, sustained
talk about corruption in latin america, it fails to before acknowledge past actions. what would it involve? it would involve a review of not only historic u.s. roles in worsening the root causes of displacement in the countries but the ongoing an continuing role we play. i think it is encouraging the vice president is now talking about some of the u.s. complicity, but at the same time she s framing it as something that s in the past. when you look at the biden administration s plans for central america, it they continue to implement the self-contradictory approach of providing humanitarian aid and at the same time enlisting the militaries of these countries that have repeatedly been involved in human rights abuses to stop immigration. so they re working with guatemala, honduras and mention cal militaries that have repeatedly been implicated in massacres of black and
on the one hand, you know, these comments were it is unclear how much they were directed at actual migrants versus the republican party that continues to relentlessly mischaracterize the biden administration s half hearted attempts at a humane immigration policy as, quote, open borders. regardless, you know, that is a message that kamala harris chose to send. this idea that, in fact, even though she acknowledges that people are not coming because they want to, they are coming here because they want to survive, they want their children s lives to be saved, at the same time she decided to say, you know, do not come, you re not welcome here. you also added some complexity to this conversation as you often do, and that s why i love having you on the show. you wrote in the l.a. times , harris promised to fight corruption but left out the u.s. role in fuelling corruption. you added, when u.s. leaders
need support. i have made it also very clear during this trip and before that if we are going to maximize the capacity of american ceos in the private sector, which i m bringing together, or the united states government to invest and to support the region, then we have to address the issue of corruption because it is actually a deterrent to the to involvement. we want to make sure that any resources that we contribute to that region end up in the hands of the people that were intended to receive it and not the sticky hands of corrupt actors. so, you re right, it is one of my highest priorities. let s be clear, the corruption has a real impact on real people. it is about whether families can have access to the resources they need or do they have to pay somebody off to get what they need. it has an impact on their access to education, an impact on their access to basic needs. so it is one of my highest
from latin america. do you think she heeded your advice? absolutely. i was very proud of her accomplishments and she definitely met with the right people, was in the right plaus place at the right time to address the root causes. we know that these massive cyclical migrations up north will happen due to poverty, the violence, food insecurity, hunger, the lack of hope due to corruption. it has nothing to do with the united states. so if we don t address the root causes, we are going to continue to see the cyclical nature, and as a doctor myself it is like treating the symptoms and not the cause. so what she is going to do is treating the cause so that we can end this. you are, of course, among the members of congress here in the states who are taking the lead on immigration reform. do you think that her trip changed the contours of that debate? i think that it definitely brought more attention to that debate. but right now we are still