GUATEMALA CITY – Guatemala would accept 40% more deportation flights from the United States, including both Guatemalan and non-Guatemalan deportees, President Bernardo Arevalo announced Wednesday following a meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Rubio, speaking at a press conference with Arevalo after their meeting in Guatemala City, said the United States will help the Central American country’s efforts to repatriate persons not from Guatemala to their homeland.
Washington’s top diplomat, on his first trip overseas as secretary of State, said Arevalo’s offer to boost the number of planes Guatemala accepts was “very important for us in terms of the migratory situation that we’re facing.”
“His willingness to accept not just nationals but those from other nationalities as they seek to ultimately return to their own homelands is also important, and we’ve pledged our support with those efforts,” he said.
Arevalo stated that details of the increased flights will be reviewed in newly formed working groups.
Arevalo stated that receiving criminals was not discussed during Wednesday’s discussion, despite El Salvador’s Monday offer to host “dangerous criminals” from anywhere in the globe who had been deported by the United States.
In addition to paving the path for the United States to return migrants to their home countries, Rubio’s visits this week have aimed to negotiate “third country” arrangements, in which governments receive nationals of other countries that refuse to deport detainees.
Cuba and Venezuela, for example, have tense relations with the United States and have previously limited the number of deportees they will accept, though the Trump administration claims Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has agreed to accept back his country’s residents.
Since assuming office on January 20, President Donald Trump has increased the amount of migrants deported to Latin America, including the use of military planes for repatriation.
On Monday, the Trump administration eliminated protection against deportation for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans living in the United States.
Trump said last week that he was extending a detention facility at the United States Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to handle 30,000 detainees.
