Mexican President Felipe Calderon urged the Guatemalan government Monday to boost its previously successful collaboration with Mexico,according to news reaching here from Guatemala City.
Mexico was tireless in its defense of Guatemalan migrants' rights, as part of its commitment to enforce human rights in general, Calderon said at a ceremony at Guatemala's Palace of Culture during his visit to the country.
Both Mexico and its southern neighbor Guatemala send large numbers of migrants to the
United States, but Mexico also plays host to a large number of Central American citizens.
At the ceremony, Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom said the bilateral relationship was of great value in fighting organized crime.
"I believe that our working groups are ever more closely integrated, and we can see the result
in benefit of our youth and population," Colom said.
He also praised Mexico for helping put the nation's Opportunities program in place, which is
modeled on a Mexican one that pays poorer residents to keep their children in school and receive
regular medical checkups.
Colom also thanked Mexico for making Guatemala its top Central American investment destination, with 36 percent of all Mexican capital invested in the region.
Earlier on Monday, the two presidents had formally opened a 55-million-U.S.-dollar electricity
substation designed to help Mexico sell excess electricity from southern Mexico to Guatemala.