McALLEN — El Salvador’s ambassador to the U.S. visited McAllen on Thursday with a sales pitch and a message challenging mainstream conceptions of their country.
“If I ask you, ‘What do you think about El Salvador?’” Melina Mayorga, the ambassador, asked. “Maybe your answer will be gangs, or crime, or war.”
Mayorga was invited to speak at Casa de Palmas in McAllen by the RGV Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. The ambassador served as a congresswoman in El Salvador but resigned citing a congressional deadlock, she said Thursday.
El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele appointed her to the position in December.
The ambassador presented before a group of attendees. It was one of five stops they were making around the state to improve relations, attract business, tourism and boost their economy.
Mayorga was invited to speak and immigration was suggested as a topic, but she said they are adamant in their message promoting business and providing education on their improvements.
“The new El Salvador, we call it,” the ambassador said, crediting much of the progress to Bukele.
Thousands of El Salvadorans are still migrating to the U.S. to find a new home.
But so far, Mayorga noted, of all the migrants encountered by U.S. Customs and Border Protection in fiscal year 2021, El Salvadorans only account for 5% of the total.
For comparison, Guatemalans account for nearly 17% and Hondurans for about 18%.
Many migrants often speak of fleeing violence, but Mayorga said a combination of Bukele’s prison reform, police investment, and U.S. collaboration helped bring about 49% reduction in homicides, 35% decrease in missing persons, and 35% drop in extortions, according to a fact sheet shared by the ambassador’s office.
“In 2015, El Salvador was the most insecure capital in the world,” Mayorga said. As of Jan. 16, the State Department assessed the country at a risk assessment to level two, which urges travelers to exercise increased caution.
“This is so important,” Mayorga said, noting that Costa Rica, a popular tourist destination, is at a level four risk assessment that discourages people from traveling there at all.
The presidential administration is hoping the changes made at home could encourage more people to stay.
A member of Thursday’s crowd, a businesswoman referred to as Maria, was born in El Salvador but arrived in the U.S. as a child. She now has a business and was reportedly considering going back to her native country.
“We lost Maria for a long time. We lost a lot of Marias for almost 30 years,” Mayorga said, referring to the civil war of the 1980s which lasted 12 years. “Not only are we looking for them to be partners, but we want our people to stay in El Salvador,” she said.
The improvements touted by the ambassador — including investment in the private and public sector — are creating conditions conducive to business, she and her minister counsel, Mardoqueo Tochez, said.
Education is part of the comprehensive strategy to prepare the future workforce and encourage large investments. Children in El Salvador, through a cooperation with Google, will be receiving a computer and learning English, according to the ambassador.
Infrastructure projects are also in development to facilitate trade through the country and beyond.
One of the most ambitious projects is the Pacific Train “that’s going to start from the west side of our country, and it’s going to travel through El Salvador and Guatemala,” Mayorga said. It would be in effect a “dry corridor.”
Other investments include renewable energy — hydropower, geothermal energy, and other renewable sources accounted for 83% of the country’s electricity generation last year — nearshoring, aeronautics, pharmaceuticals, automotive, agriculture, tourism, textiles and apparel.
“This is only the beginning,” Mayorga said.
After the hour-long presentation, a few members of the crowd mentioned to her how their perception of El Salvador was positively changed.
Mayorga said she would be meeting with a potential bitcoin investor following her visit to McAllen, and they’ll be planning an expo in Houston at the beginning of September.
