Recently in Guatemala Category

Christopher Sherman of the Associated Press reports:

A former Border Patrol agent pleaded guilty Tuesday to hitting an illegal Guatemalan immigrant in the face with his pistol and to putting the barrel of his pistol against the head of another illegal immigrant while interrogating him.

Santiago Perez, of Edinburg, admitted Tuesday in federal court in Houston to both cases of violating the civil rights of the two immigrants while working as a South Texas Border Patrol agent in 2006 and 2007.

Chistopher Sherman - Associated Press (19 August 2008)

Sombrero Tip to Mexico Trucker.

Julia Preston's article in the New York Times speaks for itself. (sombrero tip to the ImmigrationProf Blog)

The migrant story has more facets than a finely cut diamond.  The facet of Guatemalan adoption is one that I've touched every now and again. 

The BBC is reporting that for the first time, the Guatemalan government has "irrefutable evidence that a stolen child was put up for adoption."  The story is an unbelievably sad one.

If people do not believe in my constant call for a more global approach to the issue of migration, read this latest shocking article from Guatemala's main newspaper, Prensa Libre. 

Sometimes I feel like I'm reading the screenplay for some shoot-em-up movie as I follow this Guatemala crime odyssey, but I'm not.  All this case inspires in me is sadness for the country I was born and raised in.

For 11 years, Pedro Zapeta, an unauthorized migrant, slaved away as a dishwasher.  Making $5.50 an hour ($5.75 when he earned an extremely generous 25-cent raise), Zapeta was able to save up almost $60,000 for his dream of returning to Guatemala and building a home for his family.  Then Zapeta made one simple mistake.  On his way out of the country he forgot to fill out a form declaring he was carrying more than $10,000 dollars with him, and as a result he had almost all of his money siezed.  I first covered this story in this post. 

Now, thanks to the blogging of Tony Herrera, I just heard that Zapeta was able to get all but $5,000 of his money back.  It is rare when we get a victory like this.  Read Tony's post and savor it. 

Picture from Prensa Libre

I've got two Canadian posts coming at you this Sunday afternoon it looks like. 

I just read in Guatemala's paper of record, Prensa Libre, that the International Organization for Migration has partnered up with the Guatemalan Ministry of Labor to send Guatemalans to Canada as temporary workers.  Over 3,000 agricultural workers are participating in the program, now, according to the article.

The tone of the article is what struck me the most.  It's titled "Immigration, without risks" and starts off with the lead:

Don't ever forget that one of the first U.S. soldiers to die in Iraq was a Guatemalan undocumented migrant.

One large step for migrant kind.  Guatemalan newspaper Prensa Libre is reporting that the Federal Trade Commission laid the smack-down on those pesky prepaid calling cards that advertise more minutes than they actually offer.  This is a major victory for migrants whose only connection to their home, sometimes, are these cheap calling cards.  Hopefully this is one less way that migrants will get ripped off in the future.  If you don't read spanish, USA Today also has an article on this.

Image from El Periodico

With the excellent pro-migrant round-ups that symsess has been providing lately it's become increasingly difficult to come up with original information.  For inspiration, I've gone back to reading Guatemalan newspapers everyday, something that I used to love to do when I had the time. 

Today, El Periodico brings us news from a conference in Los Angeles on the transnational criminal youth gangs that have been choking the Northern Hemisphere since the U.S. started increasing the deportations of criminal migrants in the 1990s.