GUATEMALA CITY — Guatemala will 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 would support the Central American country’s efforts to return people not from Guatemala to their homeland.
Washington’s top diplomat, on his first trip abroad as secretary of State, said Arevalo’s offer to increase the number of flights 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 discussed in newly formed working groups.
Arevalo stated that accepting criminals was not discussed at Wednesday’s meeting, despite El Salvador’s Monday offer to house “dangerous criminals” from anywhere in the world who had been deported by the United States.
In addition to paving the way for the United States to return migrants to their home countries, Rubio’s visits this week have sought to secure “third country” agreements, in which nations accept citizens 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 citizens.
Since taking office on January 20, President Donald Trump has increased the number of migrants deported to Latin America, including the use of military planes for repatriation.
On Monday, the Trump administration removed protection against deportation for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans living in the United States.
Trump announced last week that he was expanding a detention facility at the United States Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to hold 30,000 people.
