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☆ Guatemala's Giammattei to visit Taiwan April 24-26
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

April 21 (Reuters) - Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei will visit Taiwan April 24 to 26, his office said Friday, following a recent visit by Taiwanese leader Tsai Ing-wen to Guatemala. Giammattei will also speak at Taiwan's parliament and meet with Vice President William Lai, his office said. He is scheduled to give a joint conference following a meeting with President Tsai as well. On Wednesday, China's foreign ministry warned Guatemala to not aid Taiwan's "independence attempts." China maintains that Taiwan is part of its territory, which Taiwan disputes.

☆ In Photos: Families of Guatemalans Killed in Migrant Center Fire Bury Their Dead
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( Daniele Volpe | Elda Cantú | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Last week, the remains of 17 Guatemalan men killed in a fire at a migration center near the U.S. border were flown back home, where three days of national mourning have declared. They were among 40 people who died in March at the migration center in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, near the border with Texas. It is not the first time the Guatemalan president has had occasion to declare such a period of mourning. So far this year, the Guatemalan authorities have helped repatriate 58 dead nationals. The prosecutor’s office is also expected to press criminal charges against the leader of the National Institute of Migration.

☆ Taiwan strengthens ties with Guatemala following Honduras rupture
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( Sofia Menchu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen walks with her Guatemalan counterpart Alejandro Giammattei, during her visit at Chimaltenango hospital in Chimaltenango, Guatemala, in this photo released on April 2, 2023. Guatemala Presidency/Handout via REUTERSGUATEMALA CITY, April 2 (Reuters) - Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen completed a three-day trip to Guatemala on Sunday where she offered more cooperation with Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei's government, one of Taiwan's few allies in the world. Tsai's tour, which will take her to Belize on Sunday afternoon, comes a week after Honduras severed diplomatic relations with Taipei in favor of Beijing. China refuses to allow other countries to maintain diplomatic relations with both at the same time. While visiting Guatemala, Tsai signed a $4 million agreement to modernize rural areas and promised to promote and increase cooperation between the two countries.

☆ Want to start a side hustle and earn extra money? Here's how to launch a lucrative business and bring in six figures.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Alexandra York | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Like many people during the pandemic, Davis reallocated the time she'd typically spent commuting home to building her side hustle. Davis' handbag company netted $14,000 in sales in its first four months in business, which Insider verified with documentation. Another entrepreneur, Lisa Andrea, regularly books $8,000 in revenue a month from her side hustle, The Financial Cookbook, which Insider also verified with documentation. Andrea started The Financial Cookbook, an online financial-coaching company, to earn extra income and try entrepreneurship part time before taking the plunge. Leveraging expertise, as Andrea did with financial coaching, is one way entrepreneurs can start a side hustle and balance risk versus reward.

☆ Honduras ditching Taiwan raises larger geopolitical concerns
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The national flags of Honduras and Taiwan are seen at the Republic of China Square in Tegucigalpa on March 15, 2023. Stringer | AFP | Getty ImagesHonduras' decision to cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan in favor of China is yet another sign of growing Chinese influence in Latin America. But some of the few remaining in Latin America, like Paraguay and Guatemala, promised Wednesday to keep their support for Taiwan. "It is a complex decision, we understand, but Honduras' foreign policy should seek to benefit the people. In that sense, Tuesday's announcement also exemplifies the American government is "losing its grasp on" Latin America, said David Castrillon-Kerrigan, research-professor on China-related issues at Colombia's Externado University.

☆ Cocaine production is taking root in a new region
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Gavin Voss | Insight Crime | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The countries are still not major cocaine producers, but the seizures reflect the crop's hardiness. Honduras, on the other hand, has shown minimal cocaine production capabilities, with rudimentary labs capable of producing small amounts of cocaine. While they have limited cocaine production ability, increasing coca cultivation in traditionally non-producing countries could be a sign of bigger things to come. For anti-narcotics authorities around the region, the danger posed by up-and-coming coca producers is palpable. The US State Department has recognized this in its latest report, dubbing coca production in Honduras and Venezuela "troublesome."

☆ Vast Maya Kingdom Is Revealed in Guatemalan Jungle
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Aylin Woodward | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Part of the ancient Maya city El Mirador in northern Guatemala that was detailed using light-detection and ranging equipment. Nestled in the jungle of northern Guatemala, a vast network of interconnected Maya settlements built millennia ago has been mapped in unprecedented detail. The civilization featured towering pyramids, palaces, terraces, ball courts and reservoirs connected by a sprawling web of causeways, an international group of archaeologists reported during a presentation at Francisco Marroquín University in Guatemala City this month.

☆ Guatemalan ex-president Colom dies from cancer, says former minister
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

GUATEMALA CITY, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Guatemala's former president Alvaro Colom died on Monday aged 71 from esophageal cancer, his former security minister Carlos Menocal told Reuters. The former president, who led the Central American country from 2008 to 2012, was very sick and released from the hospital a week and a half ago, Menocal told Reuters. Colom, a soft-spoken politician and textile businessman, beat former head of army intelligence Otto Perez Molina in 2007 to become Guatemala's first leftist president since the country's civil war ended in 1996. When he died, Colom was under preventative home arrest still awaiting a trial. Reporting by Sofia Menchu; Writing by Valentine Hilaire; Editing by Sarah MorlandOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Guatemala Widens Prosecutions Against Former Anticorruption Officials
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Santiago Pérez | Juan Carlos Rivera | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Guatemalan authorities have issued several recent arrest warrants and brought criminal charges against more judges and prosecutors previously given the job of weeding out corruption in Guatemala’s government. The moves have fueled concerns among the U.S. government and rights groups about democratic backsliding in Guatemala. More than 30 Guatemalan anticorruption judges and prosecutors have left the country under threat of arrest over the past two years. The departures occurred amid weakening accountability for corruption, according to Human Rights Watch, an advocacy group.

☆ Guatemala summons ambassador in Colombia for consultations in defense minister tussle
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

GUATEMALA CITY, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Guatemala summoned its ambassador in Colombia for consultations, Guatemala's foreign ministry said on Tuesday, a day after Colombia did the same in regard to a conflict over Colombia's defense minister. Guatemala on Monday accused Colombian Defense Minister Ivan Velasquez, who led a United Nations anti-corruption unit in the Central American country, of committing illegal acts. Colombian President Gustavo Petro came out to defend the minister, saying he would not accept any "order for the arrest" of Velasquez. Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei told Spanish news agency EFE on Tuesday that Velasquez was not facing "criminal prosecution." Arrest warrants were issued for several others as part of the investigation, including former Guatemalan Attorney General Thelma Aldana.

☆ Thousands seeking asylum crowd Mexico refugee offices amid fears of a U.S. policy change
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

TAPACHULA/MEXICO CITY — Thousands of migrants have flocked to government offices in southern Mexico seeking asylum since the United States said it would keep restrictions used to quickly expel hundreds of thousands of migrants who have crossed the U.S.-Mexico border. Cuban migrant German Ortiz, who is waiting to apply for asylum in the Mexican city of Tapachula near the Guatemalan border, wants to make his way quickly to the United States. Title 42 was originally put in place to curb the spread of COVID, but U.S. health authorities have since said it is no longer needed for public health reasons. Ramirez said many migrants seek asylum to obtain documents they believe are necessary to traverse Mexico so they can then go to the U.S.-Mexico border later. Ramirez believed the mass of recent arrivals could be migrants from Cuba, Nicaragua and Haiti seeking to reach the United States before rules change.

[1/5] A government official talks to migrants waiting to regularize their migration status outside Mexico's Commission for Refugee Assistance (COMAR) in Tapachula, Chiapas state, Mexico January 3, 2023. Title 42 was originally put in place to curb the spread of COVID, but U.S. health authorities have since said it is no longer needed for public health reasons. Immigrant advocates say the policy is inhumane and it exposes vulnerable migrants to serious risks, like kidnapping or assault, in Mexican border towns. 'GIVE US A CHANCE'Police in Tapachula and the National Guard erected fences around COMAR offices to block large crowds of migrants, Reuters images show. Nearly 400,000 migrants were detained in Mexico through November, twice as many as in 2019, official data show.

☆ Lasers revealed 5 ancient civilizations that were hiding in plain sight
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( Paola Rosa-Aquino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Archeologists beam lasers from the sky to unearth ancient settlements hiding in plain sight. State-of-the-art laser technology is transforming archaeology by creating 3D renderings of ruins. A hidden 2,000-year-old Mayan civilization in northern GuatemalaResearchers found a 2,000-year-old Mayan civilization in northern Guatemala using LiDAR. 61,000 previously unknown structures hidden under the dense Guatemalan jungleLiDAR laser technology found ancient cities with more than 60,000 structures in Guatemala. An overgrown ancient civilization buried in the Bolivian AmazonA LiDAR image of an ancient Amazonian urban network in what is now Bolivia.

“The magnitude of the flow is unprecedented and unheard of,” said Jorge Duany, director of Florida International University’s Cuba Research Institute. Over 6,000 Cuban migrants were interdicted at sea in 2021 while attempting to cross the Florida straits in makeshift boats. Recent migrants have been staying with relatives until they’re able to find work and a room or efficiency to rent. “It’s basically chaos,” said Angel Leal, an immigration attorney in Miami with a large volume of Cuban clients. But previous waves of Cuban migrants, like those who came in the 1990s during the rafter crisis, also leaned Democratic and then ultimately turned Republican.

☆ Child workers found throughout Hyundai-Kia supply chain in Alabama
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +16 min

Hyundai and Kia now have dozens of suppliers in Alabama, according to the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama, a business group. The agency, they said, hired underage workers while they worked there. “It was my first job in the United States and this is not what you would expect to see here.”Six other former workers told Reuters they, too, saw underage workers at Ajin’s two factories in Cusseta. Herrera said he raised concerns about the underage workers with managers at SMART, but was brushed off. The officials, wearing shirts that bore Hyundai logos, inspected the assembly line even as underage workers labored there, Herrera said.

☆ Guatemalan court approves sending detained renowned journalist to trial
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/6] Journalist Jose Ruben Zamora Marroquin, founder and president of El Periodico newspaper, talks with the media after attending his court hearing in Guatemala City, in Guatemala, December 8, 2022. REUTERS/Josue DecaveleGUATEMALA CITY, Dec 8 (Reuters) - A Guatemalan court decided on Thursday to take to trial a case against a well-known Guatemalan journalist who was arrested four months ago on charges of money laundering, influence peddling and blackmail. Jose Ruben Zamora Marroquin, an outspoken government critic, was detained in late July after a police raid on his home and will now remain in prison until the trial begins. Zamora, 65, is the founder of the elPeriodico newspaper, an outlet famous for investigations into government corruption. Reporting by Sofia Menchu; Writing by Isabel Woodford; Editing by Bradley PerrettOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Guatemalan former president and vice president convicted of fraud, conspiracy
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

GUATEMALA CITY — A court in Guatemala convicted former President Otto Pérez Molina and his vice president, Roxana Baldetti, on fraud and conspiracy counts Wednesday. Johan Ordonez / AFP - Getty Images“It is a lie,” the former president, 72, said during a break in the court proceedings Wednesday. Then President Jimmy Morales ended the CICIG’s mission in 2019 while he was under investigation. Anticorruption efforts have faltered since then and those who worked closely with the international mission have seen the justice system turned against them. Around 30 former anti-corruption officials have fled the country.

☆ Latinas lose $1.2 million over their careers due to the pay gap—here's what needs to change
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Morgan Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

That pay gap translates to a staggering loss of nearly $1.2 million over a 40-year career. Latinas with the largest pay gaps often work as maids, child-care workers and cashiers, among other critical, undervalued occupations, the Center for American Progress reports. Honduran women, for example, only make 44 cents, Guatemalan women make 47 cents, and Salvadoran women make 49 cents for every dollar paid to white, non-Hispanic men, the NWLC reports. While the largest explained causes of the pay gap include the segregation of Latinas into lower-paying occupations and a history of discrimination and bias in hiring and salary decisions, a significant part of the pay gap can't be accounted for by these factors. Increasing pay transparency, providing Latinas access to information, negotiation tactics and connecting them with allies in the workplace can help Latinas in the fight for equal pay.

☆ Guatemala court sentences ex-President Perez, ex-VP in graft case
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Sofia Menchu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/5] Former Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina leaves the courtroom after being found guilty of a corruption case during his administration, at the judicial building, in Guatemala City, Guatemala December 7, 2022. Perez, who was president of Guatemala from 2012 to 2015, has spent the last seven years in prison awaiting a verdict in the case. Baldetti was sentenced to more than 15 years in prison in 2018 in a separate fraud case. Perez was ordered to pay 8.7 million quetzales ($1.10 million) while Baldetti was fined 8.4 million quetzales ($1.06 million) on Wednesday. The case, known as "La Linea," was originally investigated under the now-defunct International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), backed by the United Nations.

☆ Prominent Guatemalan investigative newspaper “El Periódico” halts print edition
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

GUATEMALA CITY — The prominent Guatemalan investigative newspaper “El Periódico” announced Wednesday that it is stopping its print edition, after the government arrested the paper’s president. Zamora has overseen dozens of investigations into corruption during his leadership at El Periódico since the paper was founded in 1996. All of the paper’s reporters have been let go, and it is not clear how it can continue with digital editions only. Giammattei has been dismissive of U.S. officials’ criticism of his attorney general and what they see as Guatemala backsliding on battling corruption. His administration has silenced independent press outlets, driving journalists into exile and taking television stations off the air.

☆ No place for flowers: El Salvador's biggest lake swamped by trash
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( Jose Cabezas | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LAKE SUCHITLAN, El Salvador, Nov 24 (Reuters) - A horse wades through a sea of plastic bottles, tin cans and green sludge that fills El Salvador's largest freshwater lake, stark images showing how a key drinking water source goes neglected even as global environmental concerns are on the rise. Known locally as Suchitlan, meaning "place of flowers" in the indigenous Nahuatl language, the Cerron Grande reservoir's ecosystem is home to native fish, waterbirds and mammals such as cougars and ocelots. [1/5] Members of "Piedra del Idioma" (Language Stone), a cooperative of fishermen and farmers, clean the the El Cerron Grande reservoir in Potonico, El Salvador September 14, 2022. REUTERS/Jose Cabezas 1 2 3 4 5The reservoir's mounting trash comes from the Lempa River, which flows from the Guatemalan highlands via neighboring Honduras, before settling in Cerron Grande, located at the foot of El Salvador's biggest hydroelectric dam. El Salvador is one of Latin America's poorest nations.

☆ Tumbling bitcoin overshadows El Salvador's crypto conference
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Nelson Renteria | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] A worker talks on a stand during the launch of Adopting Bitcoin – A Lightning Summit in El Salvador, in San Salvador, El Salvador November 15, 2022. Crypto exchange "Bitfinex will redouble its efforts to build a free, unstoppable, resilient and open bitcoin and technology infrastructure for El Salvador," said Paolo Ardoino, the firm's chief technology officer. Ifinex, Bitfinex's parent, has agreed to collaborate with El Salvador's government to create a digital asset and securities regulatory framework. "El Salvador will become the financial and tech center of Central America. The noise won't distract the builders," Ardoino added after meeting with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele.

Several Republican and Democratic Latinos made history in the midterm elections, even as votes were still being tallied Wednesday in many parts of the country. According to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, Latinos ran for top offices in 44 of the nation's 50 states. Antonio Delgado became the first person who identifies as Latino to be elected to the office, according to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials. Matos, a former Providence City Council president, was appointed lieutenant governor in April 2021 when Dan McKee became the state's governor. Follow NBC Latino on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Democratic state Rep. Delia Ramirez is the winner in Illinois’ 3rd Congressional District, NBC News projects, defeating Republican Justin Burau. Her win made Ramirez the first Latina elected to Congress from Illinois. With 63% of the votes in, Ramirez had 65.4% of the votes, while Burau had 34.6%, according to the NBC News Decision Desk. In 2018, Ramirez became the first Guatemalan American elected to the Illinois General Assembly. The state's first Hispanic member of Congress was Democrat Luis Gutierrez, who was elected in 1993 and retired in January 2019.

☆ Venezuelans stranded in Panama by U.S. policy change return home
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

The policy change shut the door on Venezuelan asylum seekers, many of whom previously were being paroled into the United States. We began to call relatives in the United States, in Chile and they us yes, it was true. We all lost the little that we had.”Some 900 Venezuelans have returned on charter flights from Panama since the U.S. policy change, according to Panama’s National Immigration Service. The U.S. policy change was driven by a surge in Venezuelans arriving at the U.S. border that put them second only to Mexicans this year. The program, which requires pre-registration online and that applicants have a sponsor in the United States, is similar to one set up for Ukrainians earlier this year.

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