Press Releases

Under Secretary Karen Hughes greets a local girl while visiting communities in San Marcos affected by Hurricane Stan.

Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Karen Hughes Met with Guatemalan President Oscar Berger

Guatemala, December 5, 2005

As a result of this visit, the Government and the people of the United States pledge to create more job opportunities for the Guatemalan people, aid to the victims of the storm and education to the children affected by this tragedy.

U.S. Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Karen Hughes met this afternoon with President Oscar Berger and Vice-president Eduardo Stein. She reiterated the U.S. Government’s commitment to promote private donations to provide assistance in response to the three hurricanes that recently hit Central America.

Undersecretary Hughes’ visit to Guatemala and Honduras, where she will travel tomorrow, is in compliance with the initiative to provide aid and help in the reconstruction of the region that President George W. Bush announced to the Central American Presidents during the Summit of the Americas, on November 4.

This morning Undersecretary Hughes visited the affected areas in Panabaj, Solola, and in San Marcos. She traveled by helicopter with U.S. Ambassador to Guatemala James Derham, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Thomas A. Shannon, U.S. businessmen Steven Reinemund, Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo, Inc., and Robert Lane, Chairman and CEO of Deere & Company, U.S. Agency for International Development Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Latin America and Caribbean Bureau Michael Magan, and Guatemala’s Foreign Minister Jorge Briz. The tour allowed them to observe the extent of the damage and to learn about the assistance provided by the U.S. Government through the Southern Command and USAID.

The CEOs’ mandate from President Bush is to observe U.S. assistance efforts already underway and to ask U.S. citizens to make their donations directly to a fund established to provide help to the victims. The goal of this visit is to raise public awareness and to collect resources to assist the victims of this disaster.

• More on U.S. Assistance and Relief Efforts in Guatemala After Hurricane Stan