Temporary
Protected Status: Bush says:
'Let me think
about it' … sends it to McCain.
[Prensa
Libre, Guatemala]
Prensa Libre, Guatemala
President Colom Obtains Little in Meeting With Bush
"The United States remains
an important trading partner and ally to Guatemala, which is not necessarily
true in reverse. … The daily deportations of Guatemalans clearly demonstrate
that point."
EDITORIAL
Translated By Miguel Guttierez
April 29, 2008
Prensa Libre - Guatemala -
Original Article (Spanish)
As
was to expected, the meeting yesterday between President Álvaro
Colom and his colleague George W. Bush in Washington,
D. C. had no real impact on the central problem of the approximately 700,000
undocumented Guatemalans resident in the United States, although the comments
of the host President remained within the bounds of diplomatic propriety.
Indeed,
President Colom bought up Temporary Protection Status
(TPS) for Guatemalans living in the United States, to which Bush replied that
he "will consider the request," and that he believes that,
"comprehensive immigration reform is in the best interests" of their
country. The Guatemalan President said that he is "awaiting a
response" to the above request, and that the two had discussed the issues
of greatest importance to Guatemala during his visit to the U.S. capital.
[Editor's
Note: Temporary Protected Status is granted to eligible nationals of designated
countries who can't return home because of a crisis in their home country. This
would give undocumented Guatemalans in the U.S. temporary work permits].
The
TPS has been granted to Salvadorans, Nicaraguans and Hondurans, but due to the
judgment of the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala, there is little hope that the same
will be allowed in the Guatemalan case. It is important then, that the
President emphasizes the issue with Democratic and Republican Senate leaders
during the meetings he will hold with them today. But given the U.S. domestic
political focus on the struggle over the November elections, things are not
conducive to progress in this regard.
[Editor's
Note: Immigrants from the neighboring countries of Honduras, Nicaragua and El
Salvador were given access to the TPS after natural disasters that have
occurred in recent years, but unfortunately for Guatemalans, no such
arrangements have been made in their case.]
The
conversation between the two presidents also centered on the issue of drug trafficking
and the need to increase efforts to combat it. It remains to be seen where the Merida Initiative will lead [a program that has been
compared to Plan Colombia 
],
which has provided $1.5 million for Mexico and a lesser amount for Central
America. As for trade, Bush announced that Guatemalan arándano [blueberries] would enjoy free
access to the U.S., where the fruit has huge market and is known as
blueberry.
Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US
Meetings
between Guatemalan officials and their Washington colleagues stand out due to a
failure to comprehend how the complicated American political system works. The
president has great power but at the same time he must utilize that power with
discretion. Because of their small size, the republics of Central America have
always been less important, unless a political phenomenon occurs that affects
their large northern neighbor - something that hasn’t happened since guerrilla
activity was prevalent and the Sandinistas were in power - but within the
framework of the Cold War.
The
United States remains an important trading partner and ally to Guatemala, which
is not necessarily true in reverse. And since there are other more pressing
problems in Latin America or the Central American Isthmus, it's unlikely that
this relationship will grow in significance. The daily deportations of
Guatemalans clearly demonstrate that point.
CLICK HERE FOR SPANISH
VERSION
[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US April 30, 2:04pm]
