Protesters jeer Clinton over U.S. repatriation policy

The Miami Herald March 11, 1999 Protesters jeer Clinton over U.S. repatriation policy

By GLENN GARVIN
Herald Staff Writer

             GUATEMALA CITY -- President Clinton's tour of Central America struck its
             first audible sour note Wednesday when he had to wait 20 minutes inside Air
             Force One on a runway here while police cleared a large crowd of noisy
             demonstrators away from the entrance to the presidential palace.

             Even after police moved the crowd far enough from the palace to permit Clinton's
             motorcade to enter, jeering hecklers outside could be heard throughout the official
             ceremonies welcoming him to Guatemala.

             The demonstrators were protesting Clinton's insistence that the United States will
             continue deporting illegal Guatemalan immigrants to their homeland. A 60-day
             moratorium on the deportations in the wake of Hurricane Mitch ended this week.

             It was a marked contrast to Clinton's warm greetings in Nicaragua, Honduras and
             El Salvador during the first two days of his trip. For the most part, the President
             was honored there for the hundreds of millions of dollars the United States
             contributed to hurricane relief efforts.

             But in Guatemala, the repatriation policy -- which could potentially lead to the
             expulsion of 165,000 Guatemalans -- is universally unpopular. Many families
             survive on money sent home from relatives working in the United States.

             And many citizens have been feeling edgy toward Washington since a Guatemalan
             government truth commission reported two weeks ago that the United States must
             share some of the blame for ``genocidal'' policies toward Guatemala's Indians
             during the country's long civil war.

The combination has made Clinton's visit the target of bitter public jibes for several
weeks. The weapon of choice has been Monica Lewinsky jokes.

             A cartoon in the daily newspaper Prensa Libre this week showed two men
             chatting about the President's arrival. Told that Clinton was not going to offer
             Guatemala help on either free trade or immigration, one of the men asks: ``Well,
             then what's he going to do here?'' The last panel of the cartoon shows Clinton
             sitting back in an easy chair, reading Monica Lewinsky's new tell-all book.

             On Tuesday, the labor union that organized the protest outside the presidential
             palace showed reporters a Monica Lewinsky piñata, complete with trademark
             black beret, it planned to take to the demonstration.