Monday, October 15, 2018

"March of the Migrant"

Some 1,300 people including families and women carrying babies joined the so-called "March of the Migrant," planning to walk from San Pedro Sula in northern Honduras through Guatemala and into Mexico, organizer Bartolo Fuentes said. Once in Mexico, they plan to request refugee status to remain in the country or a visa to pass through to the U.S. border, he said.

"I believe we'll get to the United States. There's no work in Honduras, and you live in fear that they're going to kill you or your children," said Fanny Barahona, 35, an unemployed teacher who walked with her nine-year-old son and carried a two-year-old daughter.

In April, media attention on a similar group of migrants, dubbed a "caravan," prompted Trump to press for tougher border security and demand such groups be refused entry.  The United States just days ago urged Honduras' president to halt mass migration. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence met with the presidents of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador in Washington on Thursday and told them the United States would be willing to help with economic development and investment if they did more to tackle migration, corruption and gang violence.

Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez said U.S. funding was declining, and he called on the United States to reunite migrant children with their parents after Washington's policy of separating families trying to cross the U.S.-Mexican border put Honduras under "huge pressure."

Most in the caravan said they were fleeing death threats, extortion and violence from powerful street gangs. 

More than 64 percent of Honduran households live in poverty.  San Pedro Sula has one of the world's highest murder rates.

"There is no work and so much violence that you can get killed walking down the street," said Javier Solis, 25, who said he has not found work in a year and wants to enter the United States. On a previous attempt, he was deported to Honduras upon reaching Mexico.

http://news.trust.org/item/20181013181612-dvm8m/

No comments: