{"id":226805,"date":"2019-08-14T02:08:18","date_gmt":"2019-08-14T06:08:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=226805"},"modified":"2019-08-14T02:33:31","modified_gmt":"2019-08-14T06:33:31","slug":"president-elect-says-guatemala-cant-do-migrant-deal-with-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/08\/14\/president-elect-says-guatemala-cant-do-migrant-deal-with-us\/","title":{"rendered":"President elect says Guatemala can’t do migrant deal with US"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Giammattei told The Associated Press his country cannot tend to its own people, let alone those from other countries. (File Photo<\/a>: Alejandro Giammattei\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

GUATEMALA CITY \u2014 President-elect Alejandro Giammattei said Tuesday that Guatemala will not be able to hold up its side of an immigration agreement with the United States by serving as a \u201csafe third country\u201d for asylum seekers.<\/p>\n

Giammattei told The Associated Press his country cannot tend to its own people, let alone those from other countries. The agreement signed with the United States in July by Guatemala’s current administration would require asylum seekers from other countries transiting Guatemala to seek asylum here rather than in the U.S.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn order to be a safe country, one has to be certified as such by an international body, and I do not think Guatemala fulfills the requirements to be a third safe country. That definition doesn’t fit us,\u201d said Giammattei, a conservative who won Sunday’s presidential runoff election.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we do not have the capacity for our own people, just imagine other people,\u201d Giammattei said.<\/p>\n

Guatemalans make up one of the largest groups emigrating from Central America because of poverty, unemployment and crime. Critics say it is hard to see how the country could offer a safe haven to migrants from other nations.<\/p>\n

The agreement, signed by the government of outgoing President Jimmy Morales, is aimed at reducing the number of asylum seekers arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border. U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration pressured Guatemala to sign the deal by threatening to punish Guatemala with taxes.<\/p>\n

Giammattei, who takes office Jan. 14, said that annexes to the agreement are still being negotiated with the United States and that he would ask Morales to include members of his transition team in those talks.<\/p>\n

The president-elect also noted that the agreement would have to be ratified by the congresses of both nations to go into force. There has been widespread criticism of the deal in Guatemala.<\/p>\n

Giammattei pledged to recognize the importance of Guatemalan migrants living in the United States by creating a Washington-based Cabinet-level position to attend to migrant affairs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is about time we had a government that cared for the people,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is these people (migrants) who are supporting us\u201d with the remittance money they send back to relatives in Guatemala, he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do not think physical walls, or walls of weapons, can stop migration,\u201d Giammattei said. \u201cI think what can stop migration are walls of opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n

On another matter, the incoming leader distanced himself from Morales’ unpopular decision to not renew the mandate of the U.N.-sponsored anti-corruption commission that has played a key role in sending high-ranking politicians, including ex-presidents, to jail. But Giammattei also indicated he wouldn’t work to bring back the commission, known as CICIG.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mandate has been terminated; the United Nations accepted that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said he has no legal capacity or any other authority to ask Morales to renew the commission. \u201cThe CICIG is disappearing and history will judge whether Morales’ decision was right or not,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

GUATEMALA CITY \u2014 President-elect Alejandro Giammattei said Tuesday that Guatemala will not be able to hold up its side of …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":226629,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-226805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-w","mauthors-sonia-perez-d","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226805"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226805\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":226806,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226805\/revisions\/226806"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}