Washington Watch - 11 February 2010
Guatemala: On 6 February, the central bank (Banguat) reported that remittance inflows from the US were worth US$246.1m in January 2010, a 15% decline on the same month of the previous year. The fall is attributed to the global economic crisis. Guatemalan migrants sent a total of US$3.9bn overall in 2009, 9.3% less than in 2008. According to figures from the foreign ministry, there are some 1.2m Guatemalans living in the US, 60% of which are illegal.
Region: A report published by the US National Office for Statistics on 9 February revealed that the number of illegal immigrants in the US has dropped by 7% to 10.8m in 2009, down from 11.6m in 2008. Of these 62%, or around 6.7m, are thought to originate from Mexico. It is estimated that El Salvador has the second highest number of illegal immigrants, at around 530,000, followed by Guatemala with 480,000 and Honduras with 320,000.
El Salvador/Panama: The US assistant secretary of state for economic, energy and business affairs, José Fernández, visited El Salvador on 4 February and met President Mauricio Funes. The two discussed ways of strengthening trade relations between the two countries. Fernández was visiting the country following a trip to Panama. He warned of the “obvious" negative effects on private investment caused by the grave insecurity issues faced by the country.