Guatemala City, November 19 (teleSUR-RHC)-- A coalition of Guatemalan immigrants living in the United States gathered in Guatemala City on Wednesday to bring their demands to the Guatemalan government with hopes of seeing new priorities in the Central American country’s political agenda.

The coalition, known as Conguate, launched a convention bringing together representatives from 30 U.S.-based organizations and national and international figures to discuss Guatemala’s migrant situation and the protection of human rights of Guatemalans living outside the country.

Delegates identified challenges for Guatemalan migrants living in the U.S., including discrimination, poverty, unemployment, and other issues, as well as the impact high migration has on Guatemala. 

“We must not continue exporting migrants, nor should we feel proud that remittances are the main source of foreign exchange earnings in the country’s economy,” said Conguate President Carlos Roberto Calderon.

In Guatemala, families received more than $4.5 billion in remittance income in the first nine months of 2015, up more than 10 percent from last year.

At the convention, Conguate launched a new campaign focused on moving Guatemala away from being a country of emigrants. The delegates also elected representative to their organizational board.

The coalition also urged state legislators to consider electing congress member Marcos Yax of the Renewed Democratic Freedom party as the next president of the congressional committee focused on migration, given that he is the only member of Guatemalan Congress that has personally experienced life outside Guatemala as a migrant.
   
Conguate has worked continuously in both the United States and Guatemala for more than 18 years and is recognized in both countries, said the organization's leader Calderon.

According to Guatemala’s National Council of Migrant Care, some 1.5 million Guatemalans live in the United States. Only between 300,000 and 400,00 have legal residence.