By Michael D. McDonald
Jimmy Morales speaks in Washington on Oct. 12.
Guatemala is calling on Washington (click here) to free up billions of dollars in funding pledged in aid to curb illegal immigration to the U.S.
Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales said Friday his nation hasn’t yet received “a penny” of $2.6 billion the U.S. pledged for Alliance for Prosperity program, intended to boost development and cut crime in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, and thereby reduce the number of people fleeing northward. The U.S. is putting onerous conditions on disbursing the funds, he said....
No one bothered to look into any information as to why all of a sudden there is a caravan of people coming from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador? There is a reason. Someone cut off the funding that prevents such things.
If paychecks dry up and tariffs make business impossible, what does the USA expect?
..."Not even Switzerland could comply with conditions they have given us" for releasing the funds, Morales said during an interview in Washington.
Guatemala itself has invested $2 billion under the program, he said. Morales said the country could use the money to invest in infrastructure and create jobs for thousands of potential migrants. U.S. Customs and Border Patrol says it detained nearly 43,000 family units from Guatemala at the southwest border in fiscal year 2018, up from 24,657 the previous year.
Morales is a close political ally of President Donald Trump’s administration, and even followed Washington’s lead in moving its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. Despite this, he said tariffs imposed by the Trump administration are harming Guatemala’s small steel industry and his government will lobby to for concessions, similar to those granted to Argentina. The U.S. is Guatemala’s biggest export market....
Donald Trump is making it impossible to comply with the requirements for USA funds. He is playing with human lives. How many people have succumbed on their way from these countries to the USA border?
Trump's recent threats to end funding are all a lie. The funding is already UNAVAILABLE to the countries that are partners in these treaties.
Guatemala has done their part and invested to create work for their people as an incentive to stay and make a life for their families. The USA hasn't done it's part and evidently isn't going to.
This is more racism. Scapegoating works for Trump no matter the peril it creates.
There are reasons ambassadors burst out laughing when Trump speaks to the General Assembly of the United Nations. I am sure this incident only scratches the surface of the shenanigans the Trump Administration finds amusing.
There is usually a reason when such movement of people occur. They don't pull up stakes and simply leave for the USA. They have family in their countries. They love their families and love their country, but, when life becomes impossible there is safety in numbers.
All this and Pompeo is ending nuclear non-proliferation agreements with Russia. When are Americans going to wake up to what is happening to their country, it's reputation and their lives? Do they actually feel safer tonight? I don't. I think the national security of the USA is impaired.
