U.S. to Help Mexico With Employment Development, Agricultural Aid in Central America

Mexico and the United States announced Wednesday a joint effort to promote economic and agricultural development in several Central American countries through aid programs, according to The Associated Press.

The plan will send development and agricultural aid to Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador to spur development and improve the quality of life to slow the waves of migration that have traveled through the countries in recent years.

The announcement of the plan, "Sembrando Oportunidades" (Planting Opportunities), did not contain specific funding figures.

Both countries will direct aid to the countries through their development aid agencies. The U.S. Agency for International Development said the plan marks "a new framework for development cooperation to address the root causes of irregular migration from northern Central America."

In the specifics announced Wednesday, the loftiest goals were set in Honduras, with training programs and scholarships hoping to reach as many as 500,000 young people.

The countries "plan to bring abilities and experiences to young people with the aim of guiding them into long-term employment, reducing the risk of irregular migration," according to a statement from Mexico's Foreign Relations Department.

In Guatemala and El Salvador, programs will be aimed at encouraging positive business and governmental practices in addition to aid through resources.

The agreement comes as migrant caravans from a variety of Central American countries have become common in recent years, traveling through Mexico to reach the southern border of the U.S. hoping to cross into the country.

In recent weeks and months, caravans of up to several thousands of migrants have begun trips to the U.S., with many hoping to cross into the country by any means necessary to find a place to live with better conditions than their home countries.

The groups have drawn responses from officials like earlier this month when Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sent 10,000 National Guardsmen and state troopers to the border to prevent migrants from crossing the border illegally.

For more reporting from The Associated Press, see below.

Mexico had long sought a U.S. commitment to fund President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's commercial tree-planting program, known as 'Sembrando Vida.'

The plan did not contain any U.S. support for the Mexican forestry program.

There has been criticism in Mexico of the 'Sembrando Vida' forestry program, which pays farmers a monthly wage to plant and care for fruit or lumber trees.

Critics say the program has encouraged some farmers to cut down existing, natural forest to qualify for the payments.