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Guatemala–United States relations

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Guatemala – United States relations
Map indicating locations of Guatemala and USA

Guatemala
United States

There is a U.S. Embassy in Guatemala located in Guatemala City. According to the United States Department of State, relations between the United States and Guatemala have traditionally been close, although sometimes they are tense regarding human, civil, and military rights.[1]

According to a world opinion poll, 82% of Guatemalans view the United States positively in 2002[2] According to the 2012 United States Global Leadership Report, 41% of Guatemalans approve of U.S. leadership, with 16% disapproving and 43% uncertain.[3] In 2017, 67% of Guatemalans had either a "good" or "very good" perception of the United States, down from 80% in 2015.[4]

History

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The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has a history of interference in the government of Guatemala over the course of several decades. Guatemala is bordered by the North Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Honduras (also known as the Caribbean Sea). The four bordering countries are Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras and Belize. Due to the proximity of Guatemala to the United States, the fear of the Soviet Union creating a beachhead in Guatemala created panic in the United States government during the Cold War. In an interview, Howard Hunt, CIA Chief, Mexico, stated that "We were faced here with the obvious intervention of a foreign power, because these home grown parties, are not really home grown, they are being funded...or advised by a foreign power, i.e. the Soviet Union." The CIA undertook Operation PBFortune to overthrow the democratically elected Jacobo Árbenz in the 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état. Carlos Castillo Armas replaced him as a military dictator. Guatemala was subsequently ruled by a series of military dictatorships for decades. Between 1962 and 1996, Left-wing guerrillas fought the U.S. backed military governments during the Guatemalan Civil War.

Country comparison

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Guatemala Republic of Guatemala United States United States of America
Coat of Arms
Flag Guatemala United States
Population 16,176,133 338,806,000
Area 108,889 km2 (42,042 sq mi) 9,820,630 km2 (3,791,770 sq mi)
Population Density 129/km2 (330/sq mi) 35/km2 (91/sq mi)
Capital Guatemala City Washington, D.C.
Largest City Guatemala City – 2,110,100 (4,500,000 Metro) New York City – 8,600,710 (19,006,798 Metro)
Government Unitary presidential constitutional republic Federal presidential constitutional republic
First Leader Rafael Carrera George Washington
Current Leaders Bernardo Arévalo
Karin Herrera 		Joe Biden
Kamala Harris
Official languages Spanish English (de facto, none at federal level)
GDP (nominal) US$68.389 billion ($4,101 per capita) US$16.245 trillion ($51,704 per capita)

Goals of US policy in Guatemala

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US President Trump watches as Guatemalan Minister of Interior Enrique Degenhart (left) and US Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Kevin K. McAleenan (right) sign an agreement on Cooperation Regarding the Examination of Protection Claims in 2019

The United States Department of State lists the policy objectives in Guatemala which include:

Vice President Kamala Harris with the Guatemalan Minister of Foreign Affairs Pedro Brolo during her arrival in Guatemala, 2021.

The United States Department of State says that the U.S, as a member of the ‘Los Amigos de Guatemala’ coalition, along with Colombia, Mexico, Spain, Norway, and Venezuela, played an important role in peace agreements moderated by the UN, provided public support. The United States strongly supports the six substantial peace agreements and three procedural agreements that, combined with the signing of the final agreement on December 29, 1996, form the blueprint for a profound political, economic, and social change. To this end, the government of the United States has committed more than $500 million to support the application of peace since 1997.[1]

The US State Department says most U.S. assistance to Guatemala is provided through the U.S. Agency for International Development's (USAID) for Guatemala. The current USAID / Guatemala program is based on the achievements of the peace process that followed the signing of the peace accords in December 1996, as well as the achievements of its 1997-2004 peace program. The current program works to advance the United States' foreign policy goals, focusing on Guatemala's potential as the United States' most important economic and commercial partner, but also recognizes the country's lagging social indicators and its high poverty rate.[1]

Migration policy

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Under the administration of US President Donald Trump, the US government has expressed about granting asylum to migrants from Guatemala and other Central American countries and has made efforts to use Guatemala to curb the number of US migrants from Central America.[5][6]

On July 15, 2019, Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales cancelled a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump after the Guatemala Supreme Court issued an injunction against a proposed deal concerning the Trump Administration's policy objective of limiting the number of Guatemalan migrants entering the United States of America.[6][7][8] Morales had been expected to sign the deal, which also sought to use Guatemala as a place where crossing Central American migrants had to apply for asylum before entering the U.S.,[6] under pressure from the U.S. government.[5][7] The agreement was canceled by the Biden administration on February 5, 2021.[9]

Diplomatic missions

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of the United States in Guatemala

of Guatemala in the United States


  • Embassy of Guatemala in Washington, D.C.
    Embassy of Guatemala in Washington, D.C.
  • Consulate-General of Guatemala in Raleigh
    Consulate-General of Guatemala in Raleigh
  • Consulate-General of Guatemala in San Francisco
    Consulate-General of Guatemala in San Francisco

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Background Note: Guatemala". US State Department. Retrieved 2009-07-06.
  2. ^ Opinion of the United States Pew Research Center
  3. ^ U.S. Global Leadership Project Report - 2012 Gallup
  4. ^ "Perception of the U.S. In Guatemala 2018".
  5. ^ a b "Trump moves to curb Central America asylum claims". BBC News. 2019-07-16.
  6. ^ a b c "Guatemala cancels leader's meeting with Trump as court mulls "safe third country" status for asylum seekers". CBS News. 15 July 2019.
  7. ^ a b "Guatemala Court Blocks Signing of Migration Deal with US". 2019-07-15.
  8. ^ "Guatemala Cancels Meeting with Trump as Court Halts Contested Migration Deal". Democracy Now!.
  9. ^ "U.S. halts asylum-seeker pact with Guatemala, says Guatemalan government". news.yahoo.com. Reuters. February 5, 2021. Retrieved February 6, 2021.

Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from U.S. Bilateral Relations Fact Sheets. United States Department of State.

Further reading

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  • Streeter, Stephen M. "Interpreting the 1954 US Intervention in Guatemala: Realist, Revisionist, and Postrevisionist Perspectives." History Teacher 34.1 (2000): 61–74. online
  • Taft-Morales, Maureen. "Guatemala: political, security, and Socioeconomic conditions and U.S. relations." Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports and Issue Briefs (2014) online
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Media related to Relations of Guatemala and the United States at Wikimedia Commons

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