Guatemala seeks aid, smuggler crackdown after Mexico migrant deaths
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[December 11, 2021]
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Guatemala
urged the United States on Friday to invest in the country and elsewhere
in Central America to boost development, and called for a crackdown on
people-smuggling gangs after dozens of migrants died in a truck crash in
Mexico.
Officials from Guatemala and Mexico pledged to tackle international
people-smuggling networks they blamed for Thursday's accident that
killed 55 mostly Guatemalan migrants.
Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said a regional "action group"
had been set up to fight human-smuggling networks and was backed by the
Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua and
the United States.
The group will "investigate, identify, learn, and bring to justice the
leaders of the organization responsible for this human tragedy," Ebrard
told a televised news conference.
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Speaking alongside Ebrard, Guatemalan Foreign Minister Pedro Brolo urged
investment by Washington to alleviate poverty in the region and called
for tougher penalties against criminals who benefit from illegal
immigration.
"We invite the U.S. government to support development and investment in
our country, as well as in neighboring countries, to avoid and ensure
these tragedies are not repeated," he added.
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![](../images/121121pics/news_s65.jpg)
Migrants travelling to the U.S. paint a banner in an improvised
shelter in Tecun Uman, Guatemala, January 22, 2020. REUTERS/Jose
Cabezas
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Brolo also proposed that the governments of Guatemala, Mexico and
the United States organize a meeting soon to align and standardize
their migration policies.
Each month, thousands of migrants fleeing poverty and violence in
Central America travel through Mexico to reach the U.S. border. They
often cram into large trucks organized by smugglers in dangerous
conditions.
(Reporting by Noe Torres and Lizbeth Diaz; Writing by Stefanie
Eschenbacher; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
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