see also 8 U.S.C. § 1158(b)(l)(B)(i) (placing the burden of proof on the asylum applicant to establish “refugee” status); 8 C.F.R. § 208.13(a) (same); Deloso v. Ashcroft, 393 F.3d 858, 863 (9th Cir.2005). Mendoza-Matias has failed to establish that he has been persecuted, or has a well-founded fear of persecution, on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. He claims to have been persecuted by the forced recruitment efforts of both the Guatemalan army and a guerrilla group. The United States Supreme Court and this court have held that conscription alone is insufficient to constitute persecution on account of a protected asylum ground. See INS v. Elias-Zacarias, 502 U.S. 478, 482-84, 112 S.Ct. 812, 117 L.Ed.2d 38 (1992) (<HOLDING>); Pedro-Mateo v. INS, 224 F.3d 1147, 1151 (9th
holding that extortion motivated in part by political opinion could qualify as persecution holding that attempted conscription by a guatemalan guerrilla group did not constitute persecution on account of a political opinion where petitioner failed to show that the group was motivated by his political opinion holding that persecution was on account of political opinion because petitioners prosecutorial investigation into acts of political corruption was by its very nature political holding that refusal to join guerrilla group is itself not affirmative expression of political opinion holding that a guerrilla organizations attempt to coerce a person into performing military service does not necessarily constitute persecution on account of  political opinion 