Exporting People: How Central America Encourages Mass Migration
The three Northern Triangle nations spend preciously little on the poor and then reap the financial benefits when they flee.
Migrants stand in line to enter a human rights center in Mexico.
Photographer: Alejandro Cegarra/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador are, by all accounts, countries ravaged by gang violence, drug trafficking and extreme poverty. It’s these elements that have driven wave after wave of illegal immigration to the U.S., drawing the ire of President Donald Trump.
And yet the bond market views the nations -- especially the first two -- as stable, almost safe, investments. In some cases, they can borrow at similar rates to regional powerhouses Brazil and Mexico.