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This summer I had the incredible opportunity of travelling around Central America, including Guatemala, a country that despite its inherent beauty and vibrant culture, is globally defined by its government’s institutionalised corruption and its extreme levels of urban and rural poverty. As a tourist I was actively aware of my status as a passive observer of the social and economic situation in Guatemala and equally conscious that, through my avoidance of places such as Guatemala City and Honduras, I was very much shielded from truly penetrating the membrane which divides locals and visitors.
My only insight into the nature of government oppression was in August, when our hostel informed us no alcohol could be served for the following three days due to the presidential elections and that we were to expect a multitude of police raids to ensure this law was being upheld. This practice, commonly known as ley seca, meaning “dry law”, prohibits the sale and public consumption of alcohol before, during and immediately after the elections. It has been suggested by members of the Guatemalan government that the “dry laws” not only reduce incidents of domestic violence over the election weekend, but also allow citizens to vote coherently and with full competence. However, when I spoke to one of the hostel workers, he said he would not be voting: his reasoning being that “those in charge will get their desired outcome, even if ten million of me voted against it”.
It is for exactly this reason, the sheer visibility of the corruption of the elite, that the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (ICIG) is of dire necessity. Set up in 2007, ICIG was tasked with eradicating illegality among Guatemalan leaders and after twelve years of institutional investigations, declared the government to be a “mafia coalition”. Yet in September this year, the UN backed initiative was terminated by President Jimmy Morales, who at the time was coincidentally subject to an investigation over his acceptance of illegal campaign funds. It is only a government which is predicated on principles of deceit and maltreatment of its citizens that shuts down an organisation whose sole motivation is to advocate democracy.
This self-serving ruling elite are now alarmingly in talks with the Trump administration regarding a new migration policy which would allow the US to deport rejected asylum seekers to Guatemala. A document obtained from the Department of Homeland Security suggests the plan would deter migration at the border between the US and Mexico and thus limit the number of illegal migrants arriving in America. Meanwhile, Guatemala would receive monetary aid in return for their intake of deported asylum seekers. The bilateral agreement between the two nations is deeply concerning, particularly in the wake of the US withdrawal of funding to the ICIG which perpetuated its demise.
One proposed area for relocating deported migrants is the Petén Jungle. Let’s be clear; this is not relocation, this is exile. The Petén Jungle is a region in Northern Guatemala which is a thick rainforest, inhabited by a complete array of wildlife and has a climate of intolerable heat and difficult terrain. This poses not only a humanitarian crisis but also an environmental one. Much of the Petén region is uninhabited bar the vast array of wildlife and crops, therefore the introduction of human settlements could prove catastrophic through its disruption to local eco-systems.
The audacity of a country characterised by its economic prosperity and socially progressive consciousness to utilise the territorial vastness of a country such as Guatemala in order to ‘fulfil’ its own migration policy, is nothing but a display of ancient hegemonic tendencies that brings shame to the US. Yet the Western press continues to operate on wholly eurocentric coverage; it is only because of my interest in Guatemala as a country that I have remained up to date with its current affairs, meanwhile the rest of the world remains blighted by a media system which shows little regard for countries such as Guatemala. These countries do not enjoy a globally renowned presence because they simply have neither the means nor economic prosperity to ‘deserve’ a seat at the table of global politics.
Author: Olivia Tomlinson
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