Power reveals food security, development aid at Summit of the Americas

The U.S. will have committed over half a billion dollars to meet “urgent” food and humanitarian needs in Latin America and the Caribbean before the Summit of the Americas ends on Friday, U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Samantha Power said Wednesday.

Speaking during a side event at the U.S.-hosted summit in Los Angeles, Power announced $331 million in new USAID funding.

“While some of this money will address other humanitarian needs like hygiene supplies, emergency shelter materials and the like—most of it will go toward food security,” Power said.

Of that, $132 million will go toward long-term efforts to bolster food security and resilience. This includes supporting smallholder farmers to increase crop yields and incomes while helping them withstand shocks, such as from high fertilizer prices and climate change. The funding will also support financial and technical assistance for maternal and child nutrition, Power said.

“The food crisis in the Americas will not be solved solely through emergency food assistance — far from it. It requires a long-term solution, one that sees Latin and Central American communities as partners rather than recipients,” Power said.

“Today, one third of the world’s food is produced right here in the Americas. The current crisis presents an opportunity for the region to not just help end the pressing food crisis here in the Americas, but to supply an even greater share of the world’s food supply—if we can invest in the farmers and agricultural communities, that will help us meet that goal.”

Additional funding commitments would be made this week to provide food security assistance for Venezuelans inside their country and throughout the region, she said.

Power, along with U.S. President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken are in Los Angeles this week for the Summit of the Americas, the biannual event that brings together leaders to discuss regional challenges.

Several heads of state chose not to attend, sending representatives in their place, while Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador boycotted the event entirely in protest over Biden’s exclusion of autocracies Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua in favor of convening democracies.

But despite the missing presidents from countries including Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, the Biden administration has insisted the event will result in big deliverables on issues for Latin America and the Caribbean such as migration, democracy, economic recovery, and climate change.

During an event earlier on Wednesday, Power announced the “Voces Initiative,” or Voices Initiative, to address the root causes of migration. The administration will dedicate $40 million to “preserve, protect, and defend civic space in Central America,” she said, by focusing on “three critical challenges.”

The initiative will promote digital democracy to counter digital authoritarianism, promote freedom of expression and strengthen independent media, and work to counter the increasing trend of criminalizing civil society by providing them with enhanced physical, digital, and legal protection.

“[T]he initiative is not just about funding new programs, it is also about mobilizing partnerships to achieve progress. So we will be elevating our private and public diplomacy in defense of civil society, partnering with willing governments in the region and beyond,” Power said.

Other announcements this week include approximately $75 million to the Inter-American Foundation distributed over three years to 300 local, community-led organizations; and $50 million for a Central American Service Corps program administered by USAID that will “provide young people in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras with paid community service opportunities, mentorship, and a path to future employment.”

“CASC will help address the drivers of irregular migration among those most likely to migrate by engaging youth in local driven service opportunities, providing a modest stipend, offering work and life skills acquisition, and enhancing young people’s sense of rootedness and commitment to their communities,” a White House statement said.

Ten companies and organizations have committed more than $1.9 billion to support economic opportunities in the Northern Triangle. They join 30 other companies that have invested since Harris launched a “Call to Action” for increased investment in the region in May 2021.

At this week’s summit, the administration is also expected to discuss a possible capital increase for the Inter-American Development Bank. The U.S. is the largest shareholder of the regional bank at 30%, so its buy-in is required to increase the multilateral’s lending capacity.

While no concrete announcements have been made, a senior administration official speaking on background told reporters that “we are looking at making some commitments around a potential expansion of IDB and IDB Invest.”