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Guatemala sends more migrants to the U.S. than anywhere in Central America. What is driving so many people to leave?

Crusading prosecutor Iv\\xe1n Vel\\xe1squez has been called the Robert Mueller of Latin America. He\\u2019s known for jailing presidents and paramilitaries.

But Vel\\xe1squez met his match when he went after Jimmy Morales, a television comedian who was elected president of Guatemala. Morales found an ally in then-U.S. President Donald Trump.

Like the alleged quid pro quo with Ukraine that prompted Trump\\u2019s impeachment, the details can seem confusing \\u2013 but, ultimately, Vel\\xe1squez says, both parties got what they wanted: Morales got Trump to pull U.S. support for an international anti-corruption force that was going after his family. And he says Trump secured Guatemala\\u2019s support for some of his most controversial policies, both in the Middle East and on immigration.

Veteran radio journalist Maria Martin teams up with Reveal\\u2019s Anayansi Diaz-Cortes for this week\\u2019s show. Martin takes us to Huehuetenango, a province near Guatemala\\u2019s border with Mexico that sends more migrants to the U.S. than anywhere in Central America. There, she shows that Trump\\u2019s hard-line immigration policies did nothing to slow the movement of people from Guatemala to the southern border of the U.S.

This is an update of an episode that originally aired Aug. 29, 2020.

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