“A Guatemalan man who made up a story about political persecution to obtain asylum in the United States, then later said he had feared for his life because he is gay, lost his appeal for asylum Monday. Two judges with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals said in an opinion filed Monday that it would be a ‘manifest injustice’ to allow Saul Martinez to benefit from gaming the system after he lied under oath. A third judge disagreed, arguing that it was easy to understand how a man who was persecuted because of his sexual orientation felt compelled to invent a story to escape from that persecution.” [Mercury News]
Denial!
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M Shane
Aside from the fact that Guatamala is one of the Central American Dictatorships estabilished with the aid of the C.I.A. and (I believe ) United Friuit Co. the issue of Saul Martinez’s fear of “political persecution” is not even a lie in the sense that being queer openly band freely is a political position, I would think.
Erick
I guess when you are desperate you do desperate things.
Guatemala is not Jamaica, you can be out without any problems.
There is prejudice but you find that anywhere. Guatemala is no more dangerous for a gay man than the US, perhaps even less so, considering how many killings have been based in homophobia lately.
Jaroslaw
AS they say, walk a mile in someone else’s shoes before you judge….
I feel sorry for this guy. Remember, even if he gets in to the US or wherever he applied, these people leave behind all families, history, friends etc. It is not a cake walk even if they get to immigrate.