Antigua has always been the tourism capital of Guatemala, but since I was here 11 years ago, it has become more upscale and expensive compared to how I remember it. While there are many good locally-owned restaurants and cafes, they are unfortunately intermingled with a large number of American fast food outlets.
I read in one of the local newspapers that prolonged droughts and intense rains in 2018 have caused 1.4 million people in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua (in what is called the “Corredor Seco”) to need food assistance. This has not been forthcoming from the governments of these countries, and therefore has been a cause of much internal displacement as well as emigration to other countries, including the US. Another article on the hunger driving increased migration from this region can be found here.
The extreme weather events causing such food shortages are one of the predictable effects of global climate change. So this is an instance of activities of the US (with the highest per-capita energy use and largest per-capita carbon footprint) being a cause of problems that result in increased immigration to the US.
