International premiere of Kamala Harris

Immigration is the focus of US Vice President Kamala Harris's international debut. This weekend she began a trip to Central America, starting with Mexico and then Guatemala, to become imbued with the region's problems and try to get economic aid to stem the migratory avalanche that festered under Trump and which, despite Biden's fine words, the US administration has so far failed to stop.

The members of the team accompanying her have well prepared the plans and studied the measures that can be taken from Washington so that the Central American peoples find the means and economic incentives in their own countries to stay and fight for their development. The will is good, it is taken for granted that the delegation has tempting aid in its portfolio, and the curiosity and sympathy that Mrs Harris arouses are positive.

However, many analysts, including members of the administration, are pessimistic about the outcome. Some argue openly that the problem will not be alleviated with millions, especially millions badly spent. In this regard, they recall many billions of dollars announced with great fanfare and sent out, but with no results. The explanation is that many of them fell into the hands of multinational companies that took advantage of them to improve their bottom line.

The leakage of much of this aid through the corrupt channels of governments and caciques who invested in their personal accounts, but without boosting the workforce or improving wages that could lift people out of poverty, has also undoubtedly played a role. The situation of millions of Central Americans, who have had no news of this money, is desperate. The results are violence in some of these countries, undemocratic authoritarianism in El Salvador or Nicaragua, and the constant fear of an uprising by the desperate masses.

In these conditions, the only two ways out, especially for the younger generations, are to join the criminal gangs led by drug traffickers with tentacles in the spheres of power, or to embark on the increasingly painful and risky adventure of walking thousands of kilometres to reach the US border where they hope to find the dream of the American miracle and where what awaits them is a long and hard journey of hardship of all kinds.

The most suspicious sceptics believe that the vice-president's trip is justified by the delay with which the administration is fulfilling the promises that Biden himself made in the past. And, amidst the curiosity about Ms Harris's negotiating skills, there is criticism that she is a leader with a background in domestic politics but no experience in international relations. The interest in the tour is in any case more than justified. She said she approaches it with her well-known enthusiasm and decisiveness.