Guatemalan Defense Minister, Luis Miguel Ralda, confirmed Monday that United States (US) troops are already in the country, specifically in the Guatemala-Mexico border department of Huehuetenango.
“The troops are already here, as has happened in the last 15 years, with programs such as ’Strong Roads’ and now [with] the one that is being developed, ‘Beyond the Horizon’,” Ralda told reporters after a cabinet meeting. The number of troops or further details has not been released.
On Friday, US Democratic congressman Vicente Gonzalez announced that he met with Manuel Espina, Guatemala’s ambassador to the US and that Espina guaranteed the government of Guatemala would welcome the American soldiers. This came as Gonzalez sent correspondence to US president Donald Trump April 16, seeking assistance with US military intervention.
“Guatemalan president Jimmy Morales has indicated that he would welcome the introduction of US troops on Guatemala’s northern border,” Gonzalez stated, continuing that “if you want to see fewer apprehensions at the US-Mexico border, I would strongly encourage you to seriously consider President Morales’ offer.”
Guatemala’s right-wing President Jimmy Morales signed a memorandum of cooperation last week with Kevin McAleenan, the US acting Secretary of Homeland Security. In that classified memorandum of cooperation, the Guatemalan government consented to share intelligence and strengthen border security, according to what McAleenan reported to The Washington Post Friday.
Meanwhile, Enrique Degenhart, the minister of the interior, has understated the deployment of American soldiers declaring that “this is a civil solution with police support from both governments, it is not a solution aimed to national and regional security troops,” maintaining they will be there for “humanitarian” purposes.
As these troops accumulate at the Guatemalan border, “several dozen” Department of Homeland Security (DHS) investigators and agents have also been posted to Guatemala to serve as “advisers” to the national police and the country’s immigration officials. According to Rep Gonzalez, posting “100 US agents to Guatemala is insufficient,” hence the necessity for military staff.
The Trump administration’s foreign policy concerning migration appears to be striving to produce “plug” states that will stop Central American streams of migrants and the US-backed Guatemalan government fits the bill; Although the US head of state is also urging Mexico, by intimidating with tariffs, to abide with this tactic.
Mexico, however, warns that the tariff hike will only aggravate the crisis and take a toll on the economy, and suggests first addressing the crisis’ root causes. Meanwhile, Mexican Interior Minister Olga Sanchez said the country is preparing to receive a huge 20,000-strong caravan of migrants heading to the United States from Honduras in the coming weeks.
October 16, 2018, Trump said via Twitter, “We have today informed the countries of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador that if they allow their citizens, or others, to journey through their borders and up to the United States, with the intention of entering our country illegally, all payments made to them will STOP (END)!”
Cutting direct assistance to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, and threatens to close the southern border make Latin America economies vulnerable; and further, permits leverage to revisit the roots of revolution [a protracted guerrilla war] in the region.
Between January and April 2019, 31,344 Guatemalans were deported; 12,345 from Mexico and 18,999 from the US, according to the National Institute of Migration of Guatemala. More than half are from the departments of Huehuetenango, San Marcos, Quiche, Quetzaltenango and Alta Verapaz.
US Customs and Border Protection said that more than 76,000 illegals crossed into the United States without authorization in February, which is an 11-year high. (www.caribbeannewsnow.com)
