Guatemala

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei said Friday he has tested positive for the new coronavirus, but he told a local radio station he feels well.

However, in a televised address to the nation, Giammattei looked a bit out of breath.

“My symptoms are very mild. Up to now, I have body aches, it hurt more yesterday than today, like a bad cold,” the president said. “I don’t have a fever, I have a bit of a cough.”

“I am busy working from home,” he said.

Giammattei, 64, has multiple sclerosis and uses canes to walk.

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — The United States resumed deportation flights to Guatemala Tuesday, nearly a month after the Central American country refused to accept them.

A flight from Alexandria, Louisiana landed in the Guatemalan capital Tuesday afternoon. The plane carried 40 adults and 10 children.

At least 186 Guatemalan deportees had tested positive for COVID-19 after arriving in the country even after U.S. assurances that they were healthy.

SAN SALVADOR, June 1 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Tropical Storm Amanda triggered flash floods, landslides and power outages as it barrelled through El Salvador and Guatemala Sunday, killing 14 people, authorities said, warning of further heavy rain to come.

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele declared a 15-day state of emergency to cope with the effects of the storm, which he estimated to have caused $200 million in damage, but which weakened later in the day as it moved into Guatemala.

GUATEMALA CITY, May 22 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Guatemala blasted US President Donald Trump over US deportations of migrants infected with coronavirus.

President Alejandro Giammattei said the deportations had saturated quarantine centers in Guatemala and heaped pressure on the Central American country’s weak health system.

“Guatemala is an ally to the United States, the United States is not an ally to Guatemala,” he told the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based international affairs think tank.

GUATEMALA CITY, April 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei said a large number of migrants on a deportation flight to Guatemala from the United States this week were infected with the coronavirus, adding that US authorities had confirmed a dozen cases.

Giammattei said 12 randomly selected people on the deportation flight tested positive for coronavirus when examined by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

He suggested more on the flight had tested positive as well.

GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei said on Friday a large number of migrants on a deportation flight to Guatemala from the United States this week were infected with the coronavirus, adding that U.S. authorities had confirmed a dozen cases.

Giammattei said 12 randomly selected people on the deportation flight tested positive for coronavirus when examined by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

He suggested more on the flight had tested positive as well.

GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - Guatemala has asked the United States to limit its deportations of immigrants to the Central American country to 25 persons per plane because of concerns over the spread of the coronavirus, Health Minister Hugo Monroy said on Sunday.

The United States puts 60 to 90 migrants on each of up to three flights a day to Guatemala, which has become a key part of President Donald Trump’s plan to curb the flow of migrants.

GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei has banned travel between the different departments of the Central American country before and during Easter to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The ban comes as Guatemalans living in large cities were preparing to head home to celebrate Easter with family members in the countryside, many of them older and more vulnerable.

Giammattei also announced a ban on the sale and consumption of alcohol that will take effect on Sunday afternoon and end on April 12.

GUATEMALA CITY, April 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Thousands of people have been detained across Central America for violating rules put in place by their governments to curb the fast-spreading new coronavirus in a region that has fewer medical resources than developed countries.

Central America is home to a large, poor population with no options to work from home, take paid sick leave or observe social distancing rules because they work in the informal economy and live in crowded conditions.

SAN SALVADOR, Jan 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei offered his Salvadoran counterpart, Nayib Bukele, the opportunity to build and operate a port in Guatemalan waters in the Atlantic Ocean to promote commerce.

Giammattei, who took office in January, said the governments will work to develop a legal framework so that El Salvador can develop projects through a public-private partnership on the Guatemalan coast.