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.
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 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.
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 2:10 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.
Trump admin separated additional 1,500 migrant families at border
A caravan of more than 1,500 Honduran migrants moves north after crossing the border from Honduras into Guatemala on Oct. 15, 2018, in Esquipulas, Guatemala. (CNN) - The Trump administration separated more families along the US-Mexico border than was previously disclosed, according to a court document filed Wednesday. The latest review was prompted by an explosive government watchdog report in January that revealed there could be more separated families that officials hadn't previously acknowledged. The policy called for the criminal prosecution of adults crossing the border, resulting in thousands of children being separated from their parents and placed in government care. We're (seen as) the enemy," a program director says in the report, noting that separated children couldn't tell the difference between facility staff and immigration agents.
US foreign aid reinstated to Northern Triangle countries
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Outgoing acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan announced on Thursday the restoration of previously frozen foreign aid to the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. The source said $143 million would be released in targeted foreign aid, a partial reinstatement of the initial freeze. President Donald Trump on Wednesday tweeted that in the wake of the agreements, aid would be turned back on. "Guatemala, Honduras & El Salvador have all signed historic Asylum Cooperation Agreements and are working to end the scourge of human smuggling. The State Department had frozen such aid earlier this year as part of an effort to reduce migration from the Northern Triangle countries.
US signs asylum deal with Honduras
The agreement with Honduras could allow the US to send some asylum seekers back to Honduras if they didn't first claim asylum when passing through the country, similar to deals already made with Guatemala and El Salvador, according to a senior DHS official. In the last six months, the US has signed agreements with Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. DHS has not released the contents of the agreements with Honduras and El Salvador, nor a clear timeline on when they'll be enforced or details of implementation. "We are working with all three on implementation," the senior DHS official told reporters Wednesday, referring to Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador. The State Department travel advisory for Honduras warns against travel to Honduras "due to crime."
Woman Rides Water Skis for 1st Time Since Being Paralyzed 9 Years Ago
Katie Vree never thought she'd get back in the water again after being paralyzed at 17. "I was completely paralyzed from my collarbone down," Vree told Inside Edition. Though she gained back some of that independence, Vree never thought she would be back in the water again. "When she took off, I was overcome with emotion," Moran said. Watch the video above to see the inspiring moment Vree got back on her skis.