Fear of Covid-19 has changed the way migrants returning from the US are received in Guatemala. Nearly 1/5 of the country’s 585 confirmed cases have been traced to deportees, many on the same US flight. Backlash to returnees includes threats of home burnings and lynching. One young man tells of a mob confronting him in Santa Catarina Palopo on the shores of Lake Atitlan. Fearing for his life and his family’s safely, he fled, and is now self-isolating in Guatemala City. The threat presented by Covid is real–an outbreak of the virus could devastate a village. Very uncertain times.
Here’s a link to an article by Sofia Menchu on Reuters: Maya villages in Guatemala spurn US deportees as infections spike.
The photo below is of Lake Atitlan, taken in January 2020 from the shores of Santiago.
