Desperate young Guatemalans try to reach the US even after horrific deaths of migrating relatives
In the small town of Comitancillo in Guatemalaโs mostly Indigenous highlands, two murals memorialize the nearly two dozen local migrants who died in mass tragedies en route to the United States recently.
Guatemala leader in Taiwan expresses 'rock-solid friendship'
The president of Guatemala has appealed to other governments to respect Taiwanโs sovereignty during an official visit at a time when Chinaโs ruling Communist Party is stepping up efforts to isolate the self-ruled island democracy claimed by Beijing as part of its territory.
Harris tells Latin Americans the US can offer them hope
Vice President Kamala Harris is telling the poor and threatened populations of Latin America that the United States has โthe capacity to give people a sense of hopeโ in the region so they can make better lives without fleeing to the U.S. Harris closed her first foreign trip as vice president unapologetic for her decision not to visit the U.S.-Mexico border as part of her mission to address migration to the U.S. She said her meetings with leaders and others in Guatemala and Mexico were vital...
VP Harris announces business investments in Central America
Vice President Kamala Harris has announced commitments from a dozen companies and organizations to invest in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador as part of the Biden administrationโs efforts to address the root causes of migration from the region.
Expelled from US at night, migrant families weigh next steps
Migrants sleep under a gazebo at a park in the Mexican border city of Reynosa, Saturday, March 27, 2021. The decisions unfold amid what Border Patrol officials say is an extraordinarily high 30-day average of 5,000 daily encounters with migrants. But under pandemic authority, Mexicans and citizens of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras can be expelled to Mexico throughout the night and in smaller towns. A U.S. travel advisory says heavily armed criminal groups patrol Reynosa in marked and unmarked vehicles. AdFelicia Rangel, founder of the Sidewalk School, which gives educational opportunities to asylum-seeking children in Mexican border cities, sees the makings of a squalid migrant camp like in nearby Matamoros, which recently closed.
Guatemala woman, 23, is among 13 killed in California crash
(AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File)EL CENTRO, Calif. โ One of the 13 people killed when the SUV smuggling them into California hit a tractor-trailer was a 23-year-old woman who was fleeing violence in Guatemala for the hope of a better life, family members said. โShe couldnโt reach the American dream,โ her father, Maynor Melendrez of New York, told the paper in Spanish. The youngest injured was a 15-year-old girl whose name and nationality were undetermined, according to California Highway Patrol. The Guatemala City woman lost consciousness. The Border Patrol said surveillance video showed the Expedition and a Chevrolet Suburban drive through an opening in the border wall about 30 miles (48 kilometers) east of the crash.
Evacuation request ignored at Guatemala's Pacaya volcano
A child sits on a motorcycle as the Pacaya volcano erupts in the background, viewed from San Vicente Pacaya, Guatemala, Wednesday, March 3, 2021. The national disaster relief agency said there were more eruptions Thursday, but with a decrease in their intensity. Agency spokesman Davรญd Leรณn said there are at least 21 hamlets around Pacaya that have been asked to evacuate out of precaution. Residents say they are familiar with the habits of the 8,373-foot (2,552 meter) volcano, located just 30 miles (50 kilometers) south of Guatemala City. Pacaya had an explosive blast in 2010 that killed a reporter and two locals.
US motions expand drug claims against Honduras president
(UNTV via AP)NEW YORK โ U.S. federal prosecutors have filed motions saying that Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernรกndez took bribes from drug traffickers and had the country's armed forces protect a cocaine laboratory and shipments to the United States. The documents quote Hernรกndez as saying he wanted to โ'shove the drugs right up the noses of the gringos' by flooding the United States with cocaine." The motions filed Friday with the U.S. Southern District of New York do not specifically name the president, referring to him as โCC-4,โ or co-conspirator No. During that trial, the president was accused of accepting more than $1 million from Mexican drug trafficker Joaquรญn โEl Chapoโ Guzmรกn โ an accusation repeated in the new motions. At this time, CC-4 was pursuing election as the President of Honduras as a member of the Partido Nacional de Honduras (the โNational Partyโ),โ the motion said.
Eta strikes Florida Keys; expected to become hurricane
A strengthening Tropical Storm Eta cut across Cuba on Sunday, and forecasters say it's likely to be a hurricane before hitting the Florida Keys Sunday night or Monday. The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami declared hurricane and storm surge warnings for the Keys from Ocean Reef to the Dry Tortugas, including Florida Bay. Several shelters also opened in Miami and the Florida Keys for residents in mobile homes and low lying areas. On Sunday night, authorities in Lauderhill, Florida, responded to a report of a car that had driven into a canal. South Florida started emptying ports and a small number of shelters opened in Miami and the Florida Keys for residents in mobile homes and low-lying areas.
Guatemala searches, Eta regains storm status, heads to Cuba
Members of search and recovery teams search for survivors in the debris of a massive, rain-fueled landslide in the village of Queja, in Guatemala, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2020, in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Eta. The storm was expected to hit Cuba by early Sunday, and approach the Florida Keys and south Florida late Sunday or Monday. Tropical storm warnings were issued for central Cuba, southern Florida and the Florida Keys. South Florida started emptying ports and a small number of shelters opened in Miami and the Florida Keys for residents in mobile homes and low lying areas. The stormsโ threat comes as many streets across South Florida have been inundated by heavy rains and unusual King Tides.
Guatemala digs through landslide where 100 believed buried
A barefooted woman makes her way around debris brought on by a landslide on a road blocking traffic, in the aftermath of Hurricane Eta, in Purulha, northern Guatemala Friday, Nov. 6, 2020. In a news conference, President Alejandro Giammattei said he believed there were at least 100 dead there in San Cristobal Verapaz, but noted that was still unconfirmed. Her home in La Lima, a San Pedro Sula suburb, is 150 feet from the roiling Chamelecon river and only a short way from the international airportโs runway. It said rescues were happening Friday in San Pedro Sula and La Lima, but the need was great and resources limited. The U.S. State Department said in a statement Friday that four U.S. helicopters from the Soto Cano Air Base near Tegucigalpa had flown to San Pedro Sula to participate in rescue operations.
OFFICIAL TRACK: Latest models show Eta possibly brushing Florida
As of 11 p.m. on Thursday, Eta had sustained winds of 35 mph and was moving northeast at 12 mph. The latest models are beginning to agree on the stormโs long-term path, which could bring it toward the Sunshine State. (WKMG)As of 11 p.m. on Thursday, Eta had sustained winds of 35 mph and was moving northeast at 12 mph. The latest models are beginning to agree on the stormโs long-term path, which could bring it toward the Sunshine State. As of 11 p.m. on Thursday, Eta had sustained winds of 35 mph and was moving northeast at 12 mph.
Weakened Eta drenches Central America; at least 57 dead
A pregnant woman is carried out of an area flooded by water brought by Hurricane Eta in Planeta, Honduras, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2020. (AP Photo/Delmer Martinez)TEGUCIGALPA โ The rain-heavy remnants of Hurricane Eta flooded homes from Panama to Guatemala Thursday as the death toll across Central America rose to at least 57, and aid organizations warned the flooding and mudslides were creating a slow-moving humanitarian disaster across the region. Eta had sustained winds of 35 mph (55 kph) and was moving north at 8 mph (13 kph) Thursday. When whatโs left of the storm wobbles back into the Caribbean it will regain some strength and become a tropical storm again, forecasts show. โWhatever comes out (of Central America) is going to linger awhile,โ said Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach.
Hurricane Nana hits Belize, drives across Guatemala
PUNTA GORDA Hurricane Nana made landfall in Belize, pelting a relatively sparsely populated stretch of the country's coast with heavy rain and wind before weakening to a tropical storm while pushing across Guatemala on Thursday. The U.S. National Hurricane Center reported that Nana hit land between the coastal towns of Dangriga and Placencia shortly after midnight at an area around 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Belize City with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (120 kph), making it barely a hurricane. Later in the morning, Nana weakened to a tropical storm with maximum sustained winds near 60 mph (95 kph). It was centered about 150 miles (240 kilometers) north-northeast of Guatemala City and neared the border with Mexico. Belize authorities did not immediately report injuries when Nana when landfall shortly after midnight Thursday.
Nana Inland Over Northern Guatemala
Location 150 miles NNE of Guatemala City Guatemala Wind 60 mph Heading WSW at 15 mph Pressure 29.53 Coordinates 89.7W, 16.6NDiscussionAt 700 AM CDT (1200 UTC), the center of Tropical Storm Nana was located near latitude 16.6 North, longitude 89.7 West. On the forecast track, Nana will continue to move inland over Guatemala and extreme southeastern Mexico today and tonight. A Tropical Storm Watch means that tropical storm conditions are possible within the watch area. Tropics Models at 3:10 Thursday Night, September 03rdLand HazardsWIND: Tropical storm conditions will continue in the warning area in Guatemala for a few more hours. STORM SURGE: Water levels along the Belize coast will gradually subside through the morning as Nana moves farther inland.
Tropical storm kills 17 in El Salvador and Guatemala
Vehicles stand damaged by the Acelhuate River after a flash flood at a neighborhood in San Salvador, El Salvador, Sunday, May 31, 2020. (AP Photo/Salvador Melendez)SAN SALVADOR Rains from Tropical Storm Amanda left at least 17 dead and seven missing while causing extensive damage across El Salvador and Guatemala that pushed thousands of people into shelters amid the coronavirus pandemic. EL Salvador Interior Minister Mario Durn said Monday some 7,000 people were scattered across 154 shelters. Amanda pounded El Salvador with rain for days before moving ashore as a tropical storm on Sunday and pushing across Guatemala. Mexico issued a tropical storm warning from Campeche west to the port of Veracruz, expecting the depression to become a tropical storm Monday night or Tuesday.