Guatemala and Honduras sided with Trump on Jerusalem. Heres why.
The Americas
By Joshua Partlow December 28
MEXICO CITY — Amid the roar of condemnation over the Trump administration’s stance on Jerusalem, there were bleats of support from far-flung corners of the world.
In the vote at the United Nations last week on whether to condemn the decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, Micronesia sided with the United States along with an archipelago of geopolitically obscure outposts: the Marshall Islands, Togo, Nauru, Palau. And then there was a pair of allies closer to home — Guatemala and Honduras, the only two countries in Latin America to support the U.S. move.
Guatemala followed up its U.N. vote by announcing this week that it would follow President Trump’s lead and move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a decision that has caused a backlash in the region and beyond. Jordan’s foreign minister described it as an “absurd provocation.” Bolivian President Evo Morales, a veteran critic of the United States, wrote Monday on Twitter that Guatemala had “sold its dignity to the empire to not lose the crumbs from USAID.”
Guatemala and Honduras have a lot to lose by upsetting the Trump administration, as the crackdown on illegal immigration has raised the prospect of more deportations, and regional trade and foreign aid have been called into question. But analysts see their actions last week as more than just attempts to curry favor with Washington. Both countries have long-standing ties to Israel and are facing domestic challenges that are helped by aligning with conservatives in the United States and Israel.
More:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/guatemala-and-honduras-sided-with-trump-on-jerusalem-heres-why/2017/12/28/7c4dfeee-eb1e-11e7-956e-baea358f9725_story.html?utm_term=.aad593c41639
