Mexico signs agreement with Ecuador and Colombia to pay returned migrants

The government of Mexico signed an agreement with Colombia and Ecuador to, as is already happening with Venezuela, pay US$110 per month to migrants returned to those countries under a professional internship program, the Mexican president announced this Tuesday. Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

“Yes, this support will be provided. I don’t know exactly the amount, but it will be the same (which Venezuela) and we are willing to support because it helps us to not have so much migratory flow, we have to do it and progress is being made“said the president in his morning conference.

Without further details, he announced that it will be an agreement similar to the one revealed last Thursday by the Mexican Foreign Minister, Alicia Bárcena, who explained that Mexico pays 110 dollars a month for six months to Venezuelans deported under the Youth Building the Future programs, for professional apprentices, and Sowing Life, for farmers.

The pact with Venezuela aroused criticism from the Mexican opposition, while opposition presidential candidate Xóchitl Gálvez described it as “illegal.”

But López Obrador defended providing income to migrants so that they remain in their countries, citing that the Government of Mexico allocates 4,000 million dollars annually to control migratory transit, the support of the National Guard and protection of undocumented immigrants.

“So, also (it is better) in terms of effectiveness, but above all for humanitarian reasons, it is better for us to help people have jobs in their villages.”, he noted.

The president argued that “Conservatives don’t like this, that is, they will never accept it.” because ““The conservatives know nothing more than to want to solve everything by force.”

“Mexico It is one of the countries with the least unemployment in the world, because that is the other allegation: Why is it not done in Mexico and done with foreigners? It is also a very reactionary mentality, we are from the party of universal brotherhood”, he stated.

The president assured that, with his social programs, “the migratory flow is inhibited, limited, tempered”, because his Government has “made evaluations, including recordings, videos, of the people who receive this support in other countries”, in reference to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

“We are absolutely sure that if we support people in their places of origin, the migratory flow will be considerably reduced, but that requires resources and that is what the United States Government has not wanted to do, allocate funds to support the people. from Latin America”, he insisted.

The agreements occur in the face of the growth of irregular migration through Mexicowhich rose 77.2% in 2023 to exceed 782,000 people, according to the Government’s Migration Policy Unit.