Guatemala will move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv in May, two days after the US embassy makes the same move, Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales said on Sunday at a conference in Washington.
“I would like to thank President Trump for leading the way. His courageous decision has encouraged us to do what is right,” Mr Morales said in a speech at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s annual policy conference, according to a translation of his remarks on AIPAC’s website.
The Jerusalem Post reported on Monday Mr Morales had also met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington on Sunday, where the pair discussed the move and Mr Netanyahu thanked the Guatamalen leader.
"It is the right thing to do," Mr Morales said, according to the Post.
The announcement of the timing of the move comes after Guatemala's Constitutional Court rejected a local lawyer's attempt to prevent the government from moving its embassy over the weekend.
Court spokesman Santiago Palomo told AFP that the high court's five magistrates turned down a request from lawyer Marco Vinicio Mejia, who argued in a petition filed in January that the embassy move was contrary to international law.
The decision in December by President Trump to transfer the US embassy to the disputed city of Jerusalem has drawn widespread condemnation, with critics saying it damages hopes for a negotiated Middle East peace.
Only seven small countries - including Guatemala and Honduras - sided with the United States and Israel on a nonbinding December 21 UN General Assembly resolution rejecting Mr Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
Mr Morales however soon followed Mr Trump's move, making Guatemala the first country to do so.
Mr Morales, who made the earlier announcement on Facebook, said that Guatemala was a nation of "Christian thought," adding that "Israel is our ally and we must support it."
In his brief, Mr Mejia argued among other things that an order issued over social media like Facebook carried no legal standing.
The court said in its ruling that "the circumstances" did not make it "advisable" to grant an injunction, though it suggested that the matter was not definitively resolved.
US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley last Wednesday thanked Mr Morales for his support on the Jerusalem question.
Guatemalan Foreign Minister Sandra Jovel said she has received calls from the Palestinian Authority asking for Guatemala to reconsider its stance.
But the country's position, she said, was irreversible.
