Tag: GUATEMALA

Conservative Giammattei elected Guatemala president

  by Henry Morales / Edgar Calderon  GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala (AFP) — Conservative Alejandro Giammattei was elected as Guatemala’s president on Sunday, defeating former first lady Sandra Torres in a run-off, the central American country’s electoral court said. With the results being updated in real time on the court’s website, the institution’s president Julio Solorzano declared the result “already irreversible.” Giammattei will succeed corruption-tainted outgoing President Jimmy Morales, who leaves office in January. “The aim […]

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US diverts Central America aid to boost Venezuela’s Guaido

  WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Donald Trump’s administration is diverting nearly $42 million in development aid from Guatemala and Honduras to promote Venezuela’s opposition chief Juan Guaido, including paying staff salaries, an internal document showed. In a memo obtained by AFP, the US Agency for International Development called Venezuela’s political crisis “a significant, exigent event in the US national interest” that required a switch in $41.9 million in funds. The United States and […]

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Trump says US to begin removing ‘millions’ of illegal migrants

  WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States will start removing “millions” of illegal migrants next week, President Donald Trump said Monday, adding that Guatemala is preparing to sign a safe third country deal. “Next week ICE will begin the process of removing the millions of illegal aliens who have illicitly found their way into the United States. They will be removed as fast as they come in,” Trump said on Twitter, referring to […]

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Guatemala in mourning after 18 die in hit-and-run

SOLOIA, Guatemala (AFP) — A truck ploughed into a crowd of indigenous Guatemalans gathered on a highway, leaving 18 dead as it drove off without stopping and plunging the Central American country into an outpouring of grief on Thursday. The government announced three days of mourning after the incident late Wednesday in the western town of Nahuala, whose population of around 65,000 are mostly K’iche’ Maya. A group of people had converged at the entrance […]

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30 Guatemalans killed by truck: officials

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala (AFP) –At least 30 indigenous Guatemalans were killed on Wednesday night when they were struck on a highway by a semi-trailer truck in the town of Nahuala in the country’s west, rescue workers said. “Personnel from the Departmental Municipal Firefighters have counted at least 30 dead people at this point,” spokesman Cecilio Chacaj told reporters. The group had congregated at the site of a hit-and-run accident that had killed a resident of their […]

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US to take ‘extraordinary’ measures in face of migrant surge

by Gianrigo Marletta with Maggy Donaldson in Washington Agence France Presse EL PASO, United States (AFP) — The United States will take “extraordinary” protective measures to deal with a surge of immigrant children in custody, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said Wednesday after a second Guatemalan child died in custody. Nielsen plans to travel later this week to the Mexico border region to witness medical screenings and conditions at Border Patrol stations, she said in […]

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Second Guatemalan migrant child dies in US custody

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — An eight-year-old migrant from Guatemala died in government custody on Tuesday, US Customs and Border Protection said, the second child fatality in US detention this month. The boy, who was with his apprehended father, had been transferred to a New Mexico medical center showing signs of sickness on Monday, the agency said. Staff diagnosed him with a cold but later discovered a fever. He was released midday, given prescriptions for […]

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Thousands evacuated as Guatemala volcano erupts again

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala (AFP) — Authorities in Guatemala declared a red alert and evacuated around 4,000 people early Monday after the Central American country’s fiery Fuego volcano erupted for the fifth time this year, sending bursts of ash and lava down the mountain. Memories are still fresh of the volcano’s eruption in June which swept away villages and left nearly 200 people dead and 235 missing. The volcano last erupted in early November without causing […]

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Red alert after Guatemala volcano erupts again, nearly 3,000 flee

  GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala (AFP) — Guatemalan authorities on Monday declared a red alert after the Fuego volcano erupted again, forcing almost 3,000 residents to flee. A fiery glow rose from the crater of Fuego which is erupting for the fifth time this year, one month after the last one and following a June 3 rain of rocks, ash and toxic gases that left almost 200 people dead and 235 missing. A spokesman for Guatemala’s […]

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1,000 Honduran migrants break Guatemala police cordon

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala (AFP) — More than a thousand Honduran migrants broke through a Guatemalan police cordon on the border with Mexico Sunday as they attempted to join a larger caravan of compatriots heading towards the United States, police and rights groups said. A group of around 1,500 Hondurans were being held back by police from the international bridge that separates the Guatemalan town of Tecun Uman from the Mexican city of Ciudad Hidalgo. Weight […]

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Family border crossings surge to ‘crisis’ level: White House

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Families crossing the US-Mexico border illegally surged to a “crisis” level in September as Trump administration policies failed to deter the inflow of migrants from Central America, officials said Tuesday. The US Border Patrol apprehended 16,658 people who arrived in the country as families last month, some 900 more than August and nearly 12,000 more than September one year ago. The surge was reported as President Donald Trump has called […]

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Trump to cut Central America aid as migrant caravan rolls on

by Jennifer GONZALEZ COVARRUBIAS / with Jerome CARTILLIER in Washington Agence France Presse HUEHUETAN, Mexico (AFP) — President Donald Trump said Monday the United States will start cutting aid to three Central American countries as a caravan of thousands of mostly Honduran migrants rolled on toward the US border. The United Nations said more than 7,000 people were now heading toward the United States, as more migrants joined the original group, including some Central Americans […]

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