Washington -Nearly three years ago, Vice President Kamala Harris stood alongside the then-Guatemalan president in the palace to deliver a message to would-be immigrants: “Don't come to the United States.”
Her pleas didn't work. Since June 2021, when Harris made those remarks, U.S. authorities have tallied 709,305 encounters with Guatemalan migrants along the southern border, according to government data. More than 2 million migrants of all nationalities are expected to be apprehended along the border by the end of this fiscal year in September, marking the third consecutive year of continued cross-border traffic.
Asked this week whether migrants had heeded Harris' request three years ago, Guatemala's new president, Bernardo Arevalo, shrugged and said, “Well, I don't know. You do the numbers.” I answered.
Arevalo, who took office in January, traveled to Washington this week and met with President Biden and Harris. The White House is hoping to show progress on addressing border security and immigration issues, which remain top concerns for voters.
He told CBS News that the president was “engaging” and “very warm” in a brief exchange in the Oval Office captured by a White House photographer. But Arevalo said in a lengthy meeting with Harris that Guatemala needed more U.S. economic investment, not just taxpayer bailouts, to encourage people to stay home. .
“Cooperation is not about remittances,” he told CBS. “We can cooperate by creating the conditions to attract investment to Guatemala, to the establishment of factories, to jobs that can start producing and creating jobs. Fundamentally, that's what we do. That's what I'm most interested in.” news.
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“We have to try to recognize people's so-called 'right to stay'. People have the right to stay where they are. People need to find opportunities,” Arevalo added. Ta.
Mr. Biden Harris given a mission Early in his administration, he addressed the “root causes” of immigration as the number of illegal border crossings soared after four years of hardline border enforcement policies under former President Donald Trump. But the Biden administration is now anticipating another spring of congestion along the U.S.-Mexico border, with officials telling CBS News that the president plans to use the bipartisan plan negotiated by senators last year. If Congress fails to enact a law, he said he is still considering taking executive action to curb border crossings.
In a personal return to politically thorny issues, Harris on Monday announced an additional $170 million in economic development and security assistance to Guatemala. He also announced plans Monday for a public-private partnership launched by his administration to bring an additional $1 billion worth of private investment into the country, on top of about $5.2 billion already committed.
Mr. Arevalo welcomed the investment as a long-term solution to prevent the exodus of nationals and suggested that he hoped this type of cooperation would continue. However, he did not discount the possibility of cooperation with the second Trump administration.
“No matter who wins the next election, I look forward to working with and supporting Americans in the United States to ensure they enjoy their full rights,” Arevalo said.
Asked if he thought President Trump's preference for a border wall would be effective, he said: “I think history shows that it doesn't. What we need to look for is simply a wall.'' “It's an integrated solution to a much more complex problem than what we're trying to build.” include. “
“Corruption is the most pressing issue.”
Arevalo, 65, is a former diplomat and sociologist and the son of the late former Guatemalan president Juan José Arevalo, who was the country's first democratically elected president from 1945 to 1951.
The young Arevalo took office in January after running an anti-corruption campaign and defeating several well-known and well-funded opponents backed by the country's political and economic elites. His victory effectively ended the country's long-standing conservative political system. But rivals who control the country's judiciary continue to try to prosecute him and his party for rigging last year's election results, charges he strongly disputes.
“We believe corruption is the most pressing issue,” Arevalo told CBS News. “But the most important issue is development. But if we don't fight corruption, we won't get the development that people need to thrive and stay.”
As Arévalo seeks to revamp the Guatemalan government and restore democratic norms, he is working with journalist José Rubén, who was sentenced to six years in prison in 2023 on money laundering charges under former President Alejandro Giammattei's government. He said he supported Zamora's release.
Mr. Zamora's newspaper, El Periodico, published numerous articles about corruption within the Giammattei government. After his arrest, it was forced to close due to a lack of resources and journalists fleeing the country out of fear of prosecution. Zamora's case has attracted international attention and has been condemned by international journalists' rights groups.
“I hope he will be released tomorrow,” Arevalo said of Zamora.
On his inauguration day, Arevalo said he had dispatched the head of the country's prison system to “transform” the torturous conditions in which Zamora was being held. Although the president supports the journalists' release, Arévalo could not specify a release date for the detained journalists because he does not control Guatemala's judiciary under Guatemala's constitution.
“We understand that the charges are not serious,” he said. “But we can't intervene in the courts of justice, so we don't know.”
