New Guatemala President Bernardo Arevalo Meets With US DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Bernardo Arevalo may be Guatemala's most unlikely president, but he is seeking to make his mark on the world stage with meetings with top foreign officials. These include Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Munich Security Conference, as well as US Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas.
First up for the new Guatemala president is the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who expressed gratitude for Guatemala's unwavering support for Ukraine since Russia invaded the Eastern European country.
"We are grateful to your country and society for supporting Ukraine, our sovereignty and territorial integrity. It is important for us to have strong bilateral relations with Guatemala," the comedian-turned-war president told Bernardo Arevalo.
He then invited Arevalo to participate in the inaugural Global Peace Summit for heads of state, saying, "We are interested in the broadest possible representation of the countries of the world at this important summit."
As the official website for the Office of the President of Ukraine noted, the European nation supplies Guatemala with grain, and Volodymyr Zelenskyy has promised his Latin American counterpart that he will keep the "grain corridor" open despite Russian attempts to obstruct free navigation in the Black Sea. They also ensured the building of a network of grain hubs to ensure the export of Ukrainian agricultural products.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has hampered global food security, as the country supplies grain to many countries in the world, including those in the Americas, like Guatemala.
Alejandro Mayorkas Discusses Immigration With Guatemala President Bernardo Arevalo
After his meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, US Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was next on Guatemala President Bernardo Arevalo's agenda. They discussed various issues, most notably immigration, as Guatemala is one of the countries migrants pass by on their way to the US-Mexico border.
The meeting also happened at the Munich Security Conference in Germany, with Matorkas talking about the meeting in a tweet that read, "Guatemala is a key partner of ours in regional economic development, managing hemispheric migration, combatting transnational crime, and much more."
As the Associated Press noted, this is part of the US's push to have its neighbors in Central America put up barriers to slow migration north. The two also discussed how to address the root causes of migration from countries like Guatemala, which is one of the many countries where people are leaving to get a better life in the US.
Mayorkas and Arevalo reaffirmed their commitment to collaborating on issues in the Americas, according to the Associated Press.
"Together we will work for the security and well-being of the region," the Guatemalan president tweeted.
Alejandro Mayorkas Impeachment Doomed To Fail
Meanwhile, as he met with Bernardo Arevalo and other world leaders, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is also facing impeachment back home after a highly political vote that narrowly passed the House of Representatives.
The Guardian noted that the measure is doomed to fail, as it will head to the Democrat-controlled Senate. However, despite this and the fact that the Republicans impeached him with a lack of evidence of wrongdoing, it could still be damaging to the Biden administration as the Republicans could use the fact that one of Joe Biden's secretaries was impeached against him.
READ MORE: Alejandro Mayorkas Impeached by House Republicans
This article is owned by Latin Post.
Written by: Rick Martin
WATCH: Homeland Secretary Mayorkas says he won't resign if impeached - Bloomberg Television
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