Mexican and Guatemalan presidents meet at border to discuss immigration, security, and development

Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Guatemala President Bernardo Arévalo met in Tapachula, Mexico to talk about immigration. Arévalo mentioned that his father, a former president of Guatemala, had also met with a Mexican president in the same city in 1946. They want the border to bring the Mexican and Guatemalan people together for mutual growth and trust. Both countries feel pressure from the United States to control their shared border and manage the flow of migrants heading north. López Obrador expressed concerns about security in the border area, which Guatemala also worries about. They discussed how to address these issues during their first meeting. The meeting happened during a time of intense diplomacy between the United States, Mexico, and other countries in the region. The U.S. government, under President Joe Biden, is working to handle the high levels of migration to the U.S.-Mexico border that peaked in late 2023. Mexico, the U.S., and Guatemala agreed to invest more resources in the Mexico-Guatemala border for development, trade, and job opportunities. To support this effort, Mexico plans to extend a cargo train line to the Guatemalan border. For migrants traveling north, key points in their journey include the Darien Gap on the Colombia-Panama border and the Mexico-Guatemala border. Panama's President-elect aims to stop traffic through the Darien Gap, but the extent of this action remains uncertain. Migrants often face challenges in Mexico, such as robbery, kidnapping by criminal groups, and extortion by authorities. In recent years, Mexican authorities have tried to keep migrants in the south or repeatedly send them back until they run out of resources.