Fact sheet

• Population: 17,422,821 (July 2021 est.)
• Capital: Guatemala City
• System of Governance: Presidential Republic
• President: Alejandro Eduardo Giammattei 
• Majority Language: Spanish
• Majority Religion: Roman Catholic
• GDP Per Capita: $11,433
• Global Freedom Score: 52

Brief History with the U.S. 

According to the Department of State, relations between Guatemala and the U.S. have been close, but are occasionally strained by human rights and military issues. The United States established diplomatic relations with Guatemala in 1849, after the latter gained its independence from Spain and seceded from the Central American Federation. In 1954, Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz put forward a comprehensive land reform, expropriating a portion of the land owned by the American United Fruit Company. Having close family ties to United Fruit, Allen Dulles, the Head of the CIA, and John Dulles, the then-Secretary of State, devised a plan to destabilize Arbenz’s government, which the Eisenhower administration believed to be a communist influence in the region and, consequently, carried out a successful coup. 

In the 1960s and onwards, rebel activity against the Guatemalan government initiated a thirty-six-year long civil war. The insurgents were inspired by the success of Fidel Castro’s revolution in Cuba. During the Guatemalan civil war, the U.S. provided military aid and training to the Guatemalan government as it executed a counterinsurgency campaign against the rebels. American military and financial support for anti-communist regimes and proxy wars became more common in Central America as U.S. policy-makers became increasingly concerned with what they perceived as Soviet influence in Latin America. In 1977, U.S. President Jimmy Carter suspended aid to the Guatemalan government because of its alleged role in human rights violations. Congress became more restrictive with aid, requesting human rights improvements from recipient countries. However, in 1982, President Ronald Reagan decided to continue the transfer of military aid to Guatemala. 

Three decades of civil conflict led to economic devastation and political instability. The death toll caused by the war is estimated to have amounted to 200,000 deaths, mostly indigenous Guatemalans, and thousands of people internally displaced, with the government being responsible for 93% of the human rights violations. Many fled and moved to Mexico and the U.S. The Guatemalan population living in the U.S. rose during the civil war from 13,785 in 1977 to 45,917 at the peak in 1989.

In 1993, the United Nations sponsored a truth commission to put an end to the strenuous conflict, but the war left endless devastation. The commission found that the army was responsible for the majority of the human rights abuses, and that indigenous peoples had suffered the most. Historic peace accords were signed in 1996, finally ending the decades-long conflict. Nevertheless, the war-torn Guatemalan economy, coupled with the legacy of violence, pushed many to migrate to the U.S. seeking security and economic opportunities. By 2010, Guatemalans were the 10th largest foreign-born population in the US., and, in 2017, the number of Guatemalans in the U.S. surpassed 1.4 million. 

In recent years, U.S. policy towards Guatemala has focused on curbing migration through development aid, economic integration, and anti-corruption initiatives. Since 2001, the U.S. government has provided $2.6 billion in foreign aid to Guatemala, which has been used to fund development and crime prevention projects implemented by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Inter-American Development Bank. The U.S. has opted for economic integration as a strategy to promote economic growth in Guatemala. In 2006, Guatemala joined the Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR), exponentially strengthening the economic links between the two nations. In terms of governance, the U.S. was a critical supporter of the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) (discussed below). Yet, the past two administrations have been involved in corruption scandals and mismanagement, which has undermined the U.S.-funded development programs. Guatemala’s current president, Alejandro Giamattei, has been embroiled in several corruption scandals. He was himself imprisoned as a result of a CICIG investigation into extrajudicial killings. In addition, Giammattei’s approval of budget cuts for healthcare and education fueled violent demonstrations just a few days after the hurricanes Eta and Iota hit the country in December of 2020. 

Strategic Interests

• Economic cooperation: Since the Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) went into effect, U.S. exports to Guatemala have increased by 107%. The products that the U.S. imports from Guatemala amount to almost $2 billion, making it one of the largest agricultural suppliers. Although the commercial balance used to favor Guatemala, the U.S. has enjoyed a trade surplus in recent years. Guatemala is the United States’ 43rd largest trading partner. 
• Migration management: Approximately 1.5 million people living in the U.S. claim Guatemalan ethnicity. The migration of Guatemalans to the U.S. accelerated during the civil war and continued in the 2000s fueled by lack of economic opportunity, natural disasters, and family reunification. Guatemalans, unlike their neighbors in El Salvador and Honduras, have not been granted Temporary Protected Status (TPS). In response to the 2014 record surges in immigration from Guatemala and the rest of Northern Triangle countries, the U.S. began to fund ambitious development projects that aimed to reduce emigration to the U.S. During his administration, President Donald Trump prioritized security over the United States’ traditional development agenda by pressuring the Guatemalan government to deter Guatemalans from migrating to the U.S. and to accept repatriation flights. The current American Vice President, Kamala Harris, visited Guatemala this past June, promising to combat corruption in order to tackle migration and told Guatemalans publicly not to come to the U.S. 
• Drug-trafficking: It is estimated that 1,000 megatons of cocaine are smuggled through the country each year, primarily destined for the U.S. market. According to the State Department, in 2017, Guatemala arrested 106 high-profile drug-traffickers. The current government fiercely opposes legalization of illicit drugs and has doubled the budget allocated to counternarcotics. In exchange, the United States provides technical assistance and supports capacity-building of the Guatemalan police forces and judicial institutions.
• Anti-corruption and governance:  Since 2001, the U.S. has worked to support Guatemala’s post-conflict democracy. The U.S. was a key sponsor of the U.N.-backed International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), providing crucial diplomatic and financial support ($44 million) to this initiative since its inception in 2007. This anti-corruption commission was highly successful, contributing to the conviction of several high-ranking officials, including former President and dictator Efraín Ríos Montt for the crime of genocide commmitted against the Mayan peoples during the civil war. Guatemala became the first country to ever convict a former leader of genocide. The CICIG also brought corruption charges against former President Jimmy Morales, who responded with attempts to curtail the corruption investigations multiple times. The CICIG operated for twelve years until its collapse in 2019, when the Trump administration withdrew U.S. support in exchange for tougher migration restrictions, and Jimmy Morales refused to renew the commission’s mandate. 
• Human rights: The U.S. and U.N.-backed CICIG investigated human rights violations that took place during the civil war, including sexual violence committed by the military. The commission also revealed that the military was involved in multiple disappearances during the armed conflict. More recently, U.S. embassy officials have voiced concerns about the Guatemalan government’s refusal to work with specific sectors of civil society, in particular human rights activists, protectors of human trafficking victims, and advocates for the LGBTQ+ community and the indigenous peoples of Guatemala. In 2018 alone, over 200 attacks against human rights defenders were reported.