After two years, the director of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (Aedic), Antón Leis, visited the country again.
Leis has extensive studies in Politics and Public Administration. He is an official at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and has collaborated on development issues within the G20 and the G7.
He visited Guatemala within the framework of the Annual Meeting of the Euroclima Program, and to hold meetings with Foreign Minister Carlos Ramiro Martínez and the Planning Secretariat.
In an interview with Prensa Libre, he highlighted the issues of interest for Spain and the priorities in common with the Government of Guatemala.
What was the agenda of your visit?
We have come to make ourselves available to the new authorities, because we have a cooperation program, what we call a country association framework, which ends in 2024, and we want to know first-hand from the authorities what their priorities are.
On the other hand, there was a very important event that we held in a strategic place for us, which is the Spanish Cooperation Training Center, in Antigua Guatemala, on climate.
What is your vision of the Euroclima Program and how do you analyze its significance for the region?
It focuses on a very important challenge in Latin America and the Caribbean as a whole, but especially in the Central American region, which is one of the most exposed to climate change.
We define with local authorities projects that have to do with the development of nationally determined contributions, countries’ climate commitments and investment projects for climate mitigation in order to promote renewable energies and resilience to disasters.
How do you see the issue of water sanitation in the country?
We have been working on these water and sanitation projects, which seek not only to give people access to water and sanitation, but also to prevent the discharge of pollutants into the lakes.
Lake Atitlán has great tourism potential, and in the absence of adequate water and sanitation systems, there are discharges into the lake body. We have several projects in different municipalities of Sololá, where we are working to improve access.
Now we are starting to work on the same issue in Petén. We are working with other European Union (EU) countries with funds from the bloc on a broader project for sustainable development in Petén.
So, when we talk about child malnutrition, the fight against climate change or the management of water resources, we are talking about the same thing. That is why we prioritize interventions in which we can attack all these challenges at the same time.
Regarding your last visit, what progress were you able to observe in the country, especially in sanitation and the strengthening of rights?
Guatemala is a country that has many challenges, and also with enormous potential and opportunities. We have been very attentive to what was happening in this country, in the field of democracy and human rights.
A year ago, Spanish Cooperation approved a new regional democracy program that has different instruments. One, for example, is a protection mechanism for human rights defenders. These problems are not exclusive to the region nor to Guatemala.
All over the world our democracies are questioned, threatened. For example, defending the work of the media, of journalists.
What does the program consist of?
We do not do it because we think that Spain can teach any lesson, but because with our Latin American partners and friends, with whom we share a language, among other things, it is an issue that we can talk about. Democracy, in many places in the world, is in clear decline.
This program has three pillars, the first focused on dialogues, the second is a component of civil society actors and the third is that of rights.
There are very good practices in this country, very good practices in the region, and we want to share them.
Are the priorities still the same with this new government?
There are challenges in the country that, in my opinion, successive administrations have tried to attack. I believe that this government has clear ideas about strengthening democracy, the issue of social cohesion and dialogue with indigenous peoples.
They are priorities, I consider, of Guatemala, but they are also priorities of Spanish cooperation and I think that we are going to find fantastic projects to work together on all of them.
Regarding Latin America, how do you see the progress and challenges on the issue of migration?
The immigration issue is a great challenge throughout the world as well. Migrations are complex phenomena, they have a negative part, which is the exploitation of human beings and human trafficking, and positive aspects that, well managed, can be very beneficial for migrants.
We have been working with all the countries in the region and specifically Central America. First, in humanitarian care for many of these people who come in very bad conditions.
At the moment, the most important cross-border challenge in the region is Mexico, and of course Spain wants to help countries manage it, because no country can solve it alone.
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