VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHGT #0955/01 3022351
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 292351Z OCT 09
FM AMEMBASSY GUATEMALA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0313
INFO WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE
RUEHME/AMEMBASSY MEXICO 0088

UNCLAS GUATEMALA 000955 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PBTS SNAR SENV ENRG CVIS MX GT
SUBJECT: President Calderon Bolsters Ties with Guatemala in Oct 26-27 
Visit 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  In an October 26-27 visit to Guatemala, Mexican 
President Felipe Calderon discussed a number of initiatives with 
his Guatemalan counterpart, Alvaro Colom, to better control 
migration and enhance security along their shared border.  The two 
leaders pledged to reinforce joint efforts to combat drug 
trafficking, organized crime, human trafficking, money laundering, 
and arms trafficking.  President Calderon also proposed that the 
two states consider signing an agreement on intelligence sharing. 
Colom said he would study it.  Other highlights of the visit 
included the joining of electrical grids between the two countries 
and the inauguration of a new road and model border crossing point 
linking Mexico's southern states of Tabasco and Chiapas to Peten, 
Guatemala's northernmost department.  We will follow up with the 
Mexican Ambassador to assess the visit's impact on more sensitive 
counter-narcotics issues.  End Summary. 
 
 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  President Calderon used the opportunity of his first 
official trip to Guatemala October 26-27 to discuss with President 
Colom two relatively new Mexican initiatives to better control 
migration:  A) issuing a new border crossing card valid in four 
Mexican border states (Quintana Roo, Chiapas, Tabasco, and 
Campeche), and B) issuing a new work visa valid in the same areas. 
According to Mexican DCM Mario Puga, the new border crossing card, 
inspired by the one used on the U.S. - Mexico border, has replaced 
the previous, local border crossing passes which, he added, were 
"inexplicably" issued by Guatemalan authorities, rather than the 
Mexican National Migration Institute.  The new border crossing 
cards have anti-counterfeiting protections including a chip with 
biometric data that allows the automated recording of movements 
across the border.  These border crossing cards are currently only 
available to Guatemalans from departments bordering Mexico, but 
Calderon announced that some time during 2010 Mexico will extend 
the benefit to all Guatemalans.  Currently there are 35,000 such 
cards in circulation.  They are valid for travel up to 100 kms. and 
allow stays of up to three nights. 
 
 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  The new work visa is intended to extend better state 
control over the movement of temporary Central American workers 
into southern Mexico, and distinguish them from other migrants 
seeking to make their way farther north.  Like the border card, 
issuance of these new visas also began about eight months ago, and 
is part of a broader national strategy of strengthening controls at 
Mexico's southern isthmus - the narrowest portion of Mexico's 
southern territory that runs along a line north from the state of 
Oaxaca.  With the new work visa, temporary workers will be free to 
move about southeast of the choke point. 
 
 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  Guatemalan MFA Director General for Bilateral Affairs 
Carlos Raul Morales told Pol/Econ Counselor the two governments 
concur that exercising physical control over the entirety of the 
Mexican-Guatemalan border, much of which is covered by dense, 
nearly impenetrable forest, is not a practical goal, so instead the 
two sides want to develop more intelligence on and exercise greater 
control over the people who cross the border.  Morales added that 
the new border crossing cards fit within a broader Guatemalan 
effort to strengthen border controls, the "Integral Border Security 
Plan."  The first manifestation of the new plan is the model border 
crossing installation under construction at El Ceibo, Peten, which 
the two presidents visited Oct. 27.  El Ceibo will be the first of 
eight new model border crossing points designed to new 
specifications.  The GOG selected these points because they 
coincide with the route of the planned Northern Transversal 
Highway. 
 
 
 
¶5.  (U)  During the visit, the two presidents also inaugurated a 
22-kilometer stretch of road connecting Guatemala's northernmost 
department of Peten with the Mexican states of Tabasco and Chiapas. 
The new road will facilitate movement of tourists between the Mayan 
ruin sites of Palenque, Mexico, and Tikal, Guatemala.  Calderon and 
Colom also took time to inaugurate a new electrical power 
substation in the department of Retalhuheu on the Pacific coast. 
The opening of the $54 million substation links Mexico's electrical 
grid to Guatemala's through a 103 km-long transmission line between 
the two countries.  Joining of the two grids is expected to provide 
Guatemala with about nine percent of its total electrical needs and 
additional surge capability, and is part of a larger regional 
scheme (Plan Puebla) to eventually link the electrical grids of 
Mexico, Central America, and Colombia.  Finally, Calderon visited 
the department of Quiche, where Colom decorated the Mexican flag 
 
 
with the Order of the Quetzal as a token of appreciation for the 
support Mexico showed to Guatemalan refugees during its armed 
internal conflict.  An estimated 45,000 (mostly indigenous) 
Guatemalans sought refuge in Chiapas, Quintana Roo, and Campeche 
between 1954 and 1996. 
 
¶6.  (SBU)  Before Calderon's departure, Guatemala offered to host 
the February 2010 counter-narcotics summit in which Panama, Mexico, 
Colombia, and Guatemala will participate.  (This will be the second 
such summit by the four countries; the first was held in Colombia.) 
According to Mexican DCM Puga, Mexico will likely support 
Guatemala's offer, and anticipates Panama and Colombia will agree. 
 
 
¶7.  (SBU)  Comment: The discussions the two presidents had about 
controlling migration through the use of biometric border crossing 
cards and regional work visas are noteworthy, as are those they had 
on enhancing border security through the construction of model 
border stations and the possible exchange of criminal databases. 
The border between Guatemala and Mexico is porous and continues to 
be used by illicit traffickers of all kinds.  End Comment. 
McFarland