Corado-Soto

MEMORANDUM ****

Julio Alberto Corado-Soto (“CoradoSoto”), a native and citizen of Guatemala, petitions for review of an order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) dismissing his appeal from an immigration judge’s denial of his application for asylum and withholding of removal. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1252 , and we deny the petition.

We review for substantial evidence the BIA’s determination that Corado-Soto failed to establish asylum eligibility. Fisher v. INS, 79 F.3d 955, 961 (9th Cir.1996) (en banc). To reverse the BIA’s decision, we must conclude that the evidence not only supports a contrary conclusion, but compels it. See INS v. Elias-Zacarias, 502 U.S. 478 , 481 n. 1, 112 S.Ct. 812 , 117 L.Ed.2d 38 (1992).

The evidence does not compel the conclusion that Corado-Soto’s past encounters with guerillas amounted to persecution on account of political opinion or membership in a particular social group. See Sangha v. INS, 103 F.3d 1482, 1486-87 (9th Cir. 1997). The evidence similarly does not compel the conclusion that Corado-Soto has a subjectively genuine and objectively reasonable fear of future persecution. See Prasad v. INS, 47 F.3d 336, 338 (9th…