Guatemalan protesters angry at US asylum deal
Print Edition
Hundreds of Guatemalans gathered on Saturday to protest an agreement that President Jimmy Morales鈥 government signed with Washington to require migrants passing through the Central American country to seek asylum here, rather than pushing on to the US.
Carrying the blue-and-white national flag, demonstrators rallied in front of the presidential palace in Guatemala City. They called on Morales to resign for having caved into the US demands to make Guatemala a 鈥渟afe third country鈥 for migrants, including those headed north from El Salvador and Honduras.
The protesters also carried signs calling for Guatemala to maintain its sovereignty and expressing support for a United Nations-backed anti-corruption commission that Morales expelled from the country. Morales鈥 four-year term ends in January. An August runoff election is scheduled to determine his successor.
Human rights activist Brenda Hern谩ndez, one of the organizers of the protest march, said this poor nation can barely take care of its own people, much less shelter vulnerable migrants.
鈥淕uatemala doesn鈥檛 have the capacity to be a safe country for migrants that aren鈥檛 desired in the United States,鈥 she said.
The same conditions driving Salvadorans and Hondurans to flee their country 鈥 gang violence, poverty, joblessness and a prolonged drought that has severely hit crop yields 鈥 also exist in Guatemala.
Guatemala鈥檚 state attorney for human rights, Jord谩n Rodas, also criticized the deal, saying it violates the Vienna Convention because Guatemala signed under duress. US President Donald Trump has threatened to tax remittances by Guatemalans working in the US, impose tariffs on Guatemalan goods and to restrict travel to the US.
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