(Refiles to fix error in reporting credit; no changes to text)
GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden’s special envoy to the so-called Northern Triangle group of Central American countries will kick off his two-nation tour, aimed at addressing soaring migration, by meeting Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei on Monday afternoon.
The Northern Triangle countries are Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, which in recent years have provided the bulk of U.S.-bound migrants.
Ricardo Zuñiga’s visit comes as migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border set a record last month, adding urgency to Biden’s push to revamp U.S. border policy while bringing migrant flows under better control.
Zuñiga’s meeting with Giammattei will be followed by talks with other Guatemalan officials on Tuesday, a statement from Giammattei’s office said, adding that beyond migration, the officials will also discuss economic development and security issues.
The American envoy will also visit El Salvador later in the week, according to a White House statement issued on Sunday, but details of that leg of Zuñiga’s trip have not yet been announced.
While Zuñiga is not scheduled to visit Honduras this week, he did discuss migration “in a comprehensive fashion” with Honduran Foreign Minister Lisandro Rosales last Friday, according to a statement from the ministry on Monday.
Further talks between Honduran officials and Zuñiga are expected to continue on April 9 in Washington, the statement added.
U.S. authorities caught more than 171,000 migrants along the U.S.-Mexico in March, the highest monthly total in two decades and the latest sign of the mounting humanitarian challenge confronting Biden’s two-month old administration.
The March figures represent a 178% increase in the number of migrant families caught at the border compared with the previous month.
(Reporting by Sofia Menchu in Guatemala City; Additional reporting by Gustavo Palencia in Tegucigalpa and Nelson Renteria in San Salvador; Writing by David Alire Garcia; Editing by Dan Grebler)
