Jill Biden leaves Washington on Wednesday for a six-day Latin American tour, with scheduled stops in Ecuador, Panama and Costa Rica, according to a White House statement obtained by Citizen Free Press.

Also on the trip will be Biden’s daughter, Ashley Biden. The tour will “emphasize the importance of America’s partnership,” as well as the three countries’ commitment to democracy, “in a region where democratic backsliding is increasingly common,” the statement said.

In Ecuador, Jill Biden is scheduled to meet with President Guillermo Lasso and deliver a keynote address focused on democracy and the challenges of Latin American migrants, according to an official.

The trip comes as the Biden administration faces several challenges on the immigration front, including a heated debate over Title 42, a Trump-era pandemic restriction that allows migrants to be turned away at the US-Mexico border. due to the public health crisis.

Jill Biden will also visit an elementary school that is “host to a US-supported accelerated learning program that helps Ecuadorian, Venezuelan and Colombian teenagers, who were previously out of school for at least two years, re-enter the school system. formal,” the statement said. She will make this visit together with the first lady of Ecuador, María de Lourdes Alcivar de Lasso.

In Panama, Biden will hold joint events with the first lady of that country, Yazmín Colón de Cortizo; She will also visit a health center in Panama City that is supported by the US PEPFAR program.

In Costa Rica, Biden plans to meet in person with President Rodrigo Chaves, who took office on May 8.

On Sunday, Biden will tour Costa Rica’s National Children’s Hospital, which was part of a visit by then-President John F. Kennedy during her March 1963 visit to that country. Biden is scheduled to deliver remarks after her tour.

The first lady’s trip comes on the heels of her solo visit earlier this month to Romania, Slovakia and Ukraine.

In Ukraine, she held a previously unannounced meeting with Olena Zelenska, Ukraine’s first lady, who had not been seen in public, to meet Biden in person.

Biden’s visit to Latin America will also serve as a precursor to the Summit of the Americas, to be held in June in Los Angeles. The summit meets every three to four years and brings together leaders from North, South and Central America, and the Caribbean. This year will be the first time the United States has hosted the summit since its creation in 1994.

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