Guatemala City (AFP) – Guatemala’s leader promised Wednesday to allow a surge of deportation flights from the United States as he won a show of support from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a boost after simmering tensions in the Central American country. President Bernardo Arevalo, who has been undermined by an elite that has connections to US conservatives, promised to allow a 40 percent increase in flights repatriating Guatemalans and others from third countries, addressing a key priority for President Donald Trump.
“We’re not just neighbors. We’re allies — we’re friends — and I think that will be evidenced by the work that we’ve done here,” Rubio told a joint news conference with Arevalo. He also said the US Army Corps of Engineers would visit Guatemala to help develop plans for a more modern port. Rubio, a Cuban-American and fierce opponent of Latin American leftists, has quickly sought in his new role as the top US diplomat to bolster ties with the region’s conservatives. Arevalo is no ideological soulmate but he has been eager to avoid friction with the new Trump administration. He told Rubio he was committed to work “comprehensively and jointly to guarantee regional stability, the dignity of our peoples and the security of our countries.”
Arevalo specified Wednesday his country — a major source of migration — would accept both “returning nationals, and foreigners” who will be sent on to their respective countries. The approach is a stark contrast to Colombia, whose leftist leader demanded “dignified” treatment for deportees and sent planes to repatriate migrants after refusing US military flights with shackled people on board — sparking a brief tariff tussle with Trump.
– Praise for Guatemalan democracy –
Arevalo is the son of a former president and pulled off a surprise victory in 2023 on a platform of reform and rooting out corruption in one of the region’s poorest countries. He immediately faced pushback from Guatemala’s entrenched conservative elite which sought to prevent him from taking office. Right-wing parties made allegations of electoral fraud, without providing evidence, and found support in Washington from elements of Trump’s “Stop the Steal” movement that refused to acknowledge his 2020 defeat to Joe Biden.
Rubio, however, offered full backing to Arevalo and said they discussed the value of democracy over a dinner Tuesday in Guatemala City’s old town. “I would like to commend you for your commitment to democracy and to institutions,” Rubio said. Guatemala also appeals to the Trump administration as it is the most populous country that still recognizes Taiwan, the self-governing democracy claimed by China. Rubio, a longtime hawk on China, said the United States will “do all we can to facilitate more Taiwanese investment in the economy of Guatemala.”
– Root causes –
Guatemala is one of the largest origins of migration to the United States after decades of poverty, violence, and political instability. According to the Guatemalan Foreign Ministry, some 3.2 million Guatemalans live in the United States — hundreds of thousands of them undocumented. Last year, the country received 508 flights from the United States with 61,680 deportees.
The United States under previous administrations sought to address the root causes of migration through on-the-ground support. However, the Trump administration said Tuesday it was sending home nearly all officers around the world from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which contributed some $178 million to projects in Guatemala in 2023. Rubio defended the decision, despite a furor from anti-poverty advocates who say that people will die, and Democratic lawmakers in Washington who say the United States is ceding leadership to China.
Rubio said the Trump administration would maintain foreign assistance but have a review “from the bottom up” to see which programs meet the US national interest. He will head late Wednesday to the Dominican Republic, whose president, Luis Abinader, has championed a Trump-style hard line on chronically unstable and impoverished Haiti, including by starting work on a wall and ramping up deportations.
© 2024 AFP
