Guatemala's health minister says migrants deported back to Guatemala from the U.S. now account for a large number of COVID-19 cases in the country. On one flight, he claimed, '75% of the returned migrants tested positive for the virus.'
An immigration worker in an orange jacket carries a young Guatemalan deported from the U.S., followed by another deportee, at La Aurora International Airport in Guatemala City on March 12.An immigration worker in an orange jacket carries a young Guatemalan deported from the U.S., followed by another deportee, at La Aurora International Airport in Guatemala City on March 12.
The health minister told a congressional hearing in Guatemala City that at least half of the country's now almost 200 COVID-19 cases could be traced back to migrants returned from the U.S, which he referred to as"the Wuhan of the Americas." According to the Associated Press, the health minister's remarks contradict statements made earlier by President Alejandro Giammattei, who has previously identified only four confirmed cases of returned migrants testing positive for COVID-19. Giammattei made no mention of the health minister's bombshell statement in his daily report to the nation on Tuesday night.
As the COVID-19 crisis spread to Central America in the last month, the governments of Guatemala and other Central American countries had requested temporary suspension of the deportation flights. On Tuesday, Guatemala's Foreign Minister Pedro Brolo confirmed flights of returned migrants would continue, saying,"We have begun ... negotiations with the Embassy and government of the United States to improve conditions of those being returned from the United States ...
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