Guatemalan president will visit Washington to discuss migration

Edited by Jorge Ruiz Miyares
2019-07-12 06:30:51

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Guatemalan president Jimmy Morales.

Guatemala City, July 12 (RHC)-- Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales plans to travel to Washington next week to discuss migration and possibly offer up his country as a safe third location for asylum seekers.

The Guatemalan government said via Twitter that Morales would be visiting the northern nation from July 13 until 17 during which time “he will meet with U.S. government officials ... to discuss security, migration, and economic issues,"  between the two countries.

Anonimous sources from the governments of the U.S. and Guatemala, cited by news agencies, said Morales may sign an agreement Monday with Trump to allow asylum seekers to await trial in Guatemala, rather than in the U.S.

Trump said June 26 that the U.S. and Guatemala were close to reaching a “safe third-country agreement” as part of a larger U.S. effort to stop Central Americans and other nationalities from seeking asylum there, as is their human right under international conventions.

Meanwhile, five former senior officials went to court to block an agreement Morales may sign declaring the Central American country a safe destination for asylum-seekers.

The appeal to Guatemala’s Constitutional Court, made public Thursday, was signed by four former Guatemalan foreign ministers and a high-ranking diplomat. It seeks an injunction against any agreement with the United States that would declare Guatemala a “safe third country” for asylum-seekers.

The legal argument says such an agreement would be a “very grave” move that would “obviously be harmful” to Guatemala and its inhabitants, adding that its authors’ deep foreign affairs and diplomatic experience gives their assessment added credibility.

 



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