June 6th

On Sunday, Madam Vice President Harris began her first foreign trip which was to Guatemala and Mexico. The flight which depart from Joint Base Andrews got off to a rocky start Sunday, when a technical issue grounded Air Force 2 after about 30 minutes into the flight.

It was two hours later when she and accompanying passengers switched planes to the back-up C32, which is an Air Force Boeing modified 757 before continuing on to Guatemala City, where she held the first of two days of talks on Monday to discuss the root causes of migration from Central America and Mexico.

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As I reported here, Madam Vice President was to travel to Guatemala and Mexico with aimed to tackle migration, investment and corruption. She is to meet the Head of States, Government Officials, community leaders, innovators and entrepreneurs.

Vice President Harris has described her task as finding solutions to tackle the root causes of the border crisis, including corruption and the lack of economic opportunities. Her staff say this first visit is primarily an information-gathering trip.

On arrival in the capital city Guatemala City she was welcome after deplaning by Guatemala's Foreign Affairs Pedro Brolo and US Ambassador to Guatemala William Pop.

June 7th

On Monday, she met with Guatemalan President Dr. Alejandro Giammattei at the Palacio Nacional de la Cultura where they first began the day with a two-hour round and bilateral table frank and candid meeting with both sides directly addressing what they want and where their concerns lie.

“We don’t have time for glossing over concerns that we have, and so we did have a very frank conversation about the importance of an independent judiciary. We had a conversation about the importance of a strong civil society,” Harris said, nodding to areas where Giammattei and his allies have faced criticism.

During the meeting, the Vice President laid out a plan on how to deter migration to the U.S. by working to improve both physical and economic security and combat corruption. She further explained that The Biden Administration will create an anti-corruption task force that will conduct investigations and will also enlist U.S. prosecutors and law enforcement officers to train their Central American counterparts to build corruption cases. The U.S. will also launch a task force to help combat human smuggling and trafficking across the various borders.

2) After both the Vice President and the Guatemalan President held a Press Conference, Vice President Harris warned against illegal migration to the US, saying: "Do not come. Do not come. The United States will continue to enforce our laws and secure our borders." She further added that Guatemalans must be given a "sense of hope that help is on the way".

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"It must be coupled with relationships of trust. It must be coupled with tangible outcomes, in terms of what we do as leaders to convince people that there is a reason to be hopeful about their future and the future of their children," she further added.

Noting to areas where the Guatemalan President and its government have been lacking and have been facing criticism both in Guatemala and abroad, VP Harris “We don’t have time for glossing over concerns that we have, and so we did have a very frank conversation about the importance of an independent judiciary. We had a conversation about the importance of a strong civil society,” 

3) Later, she held another roundtable meeting with human rights activists and other Guatemalan civil society leaders accompanied by Ambassador William Pop on addressing the root causes of migration.

Photo Credit: Peter Velz 46/Twitter

During the meeting, Vice President Harris spoke of the “impact that the lack of judicial independence can have on civil society, especially with regard to the highest courts in the land.

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4) Then she held another roundtable meeting and spoke at a women's intergenerational innovators and entrepreneurs event held at the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala in Guatemala City.

She also visited the Lab where she participated and held conversations with the ladies where she learned about their businesses and the challenges faced by business owners

Photo Credits: Peter Velz 46/Twitter

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