So how about some links from Guatemala?

Senator Rand Paul was on Meet the Press this weekend discussing his recent campaign trip medical mission to Guatemala. He might understand the actual causes of undocumented migration to the United States, but publicly he finds it more opportune to attack President Obama on bogus charges. I am hopeful that providing improved sight to hundreds of people outweigh the politics of the trip.

Victims and killers - niños sicarios.

US trade officials give Guatemala more time to install labor overhaul

Under the labor plan, Guatemala has agreed to strengthen labor inspections, increase labor law compliance by exporting companies, improve the monitoring and enforcement of labor court orders and establish mechanisms to ensure that workers are paid what they are owed when factories close, according to the USTR. 

At some point the US is just going to have to go to arbitration or give up. I'm not sure anyone thinks that labor conditions or enforcement of laws on the books is going to happen within the next four months or even four years.

Guatemala declares drought emergency

The Guatemalan government declared Monday a state of public emergency in the country's 22 provinces as a result of the prolonged drought that has affected more than 200,000 families and caused agriculture losses in the millions.

Central America is a beautiful region with picturesque volcanoes and beautiful coastlines. Unfortunately even the most well-intentioned development projects are going to be and have hamstrung by flooding, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, rising sea levels, erratic weather patterns, and drought. There's a certain the US and Central American governments and agencies need to provide significantly more assistance to their populations not necessarily to improve conditions in the region but simply to prevent them from getting any worse.

Guatemala is in the final stages of purchasing two coastal patrol craft.

Guatemala: Inside the Border Crisis

And a not so atypical story - On Monday, Salvadoran police detained two Nicaraguans who were transporting nine Nepalese and three Bengalis on their way to the United States. They were apprehended while trying to enter Guatemala illegally.

Is Guatemala The Next Big Central American Must-See?

Everyone’s been to Costa Rica, most have hit Belize on a cruise ship, and let’s face it, the Yucatan Peninsula is pretty much been there, done that. Guatemala, however, is quickly becoming the new, fresh, must-see destination in Central America.

I only started going to Guatemala in the late 1990s when I heard the same thing. I imagine this is no different from what Guatemalans were saying in 1897. Here's Lisa Munro (maybe she'll post something on her blog or send it to me to post here)

The Central American Exposition flung open its gates to international audiences on March 15, 1897 in the capital city of Guatemala to celebrate the seventy-fifth anniversary of the nation’s independence. At the appointed hour, President Reina Barrios pressed a button that sent a telegraph over newly installed electrical wires with news of the exposition to distant regions of the globe. Parades and military bands played the new national anthem and accompanied the president, the exposition’s central committee, and other important guests to the fairgrounds.According to the official bulletin of the central committee, more than 40,000 people attended the exposition on the opening day.

Swept up in the global mania for world’s fairs, Guatemalan leaders and their fellow Central American counterparts seized on the idea of hosting an international exposition to refute their former colonial status, dispel prevailing stereotypes of their backwardness and barbarity and, in conscious imitation of the United States and Europe, promote their economic potential and draw foreign investment. World’s fairs allowed for the articulation of national ideals of progress, modernity, and visually illustrated a nation’s collective identity in an international context. Most expositions of the late nineteenth century attempted to promote a sense of national identity and pride by uniting citizens through exhibits that emphasized shared cultural values and important national symbols. 

Unfortunately, some things never change.