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10A Thursday, November 1,2018
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
WORLD
Weary migrant caravan rests in south Mexico
RODRIGO ABD I Associated Press
Central American migrants watch a movie set up at their makeshift camp where a caravan of thousands of
migrants are sleeping in Juchitan, Mexico, Tuesday, Oct. 30.
REBECCA BLACKWELL I Associated Press
A migrant pushes a child in a stroller on the highway as a thousands-strong
caravan of Central Americans continues its journey toward the U.S. border,
between Niltepec and Juchitan, Oaxaca state, Mexico, Tuesday, Oct. 30.
JUCHITAN, Mexico - Thou
sands of weary Central American
migrants in a caravan that has
advanced 250 miles into Mexico
but remains far from the U.S. bor
der hope they won’t have to walk
anymore, at least for a while.
Representatives of the group
sought Wednesday to negotiate
use of dozens of buses to carry the
migrants hundreds of miles ahead,
as the caravan took at least a day
off from the grind of walking and
hitching rides in packed trucks
from small town to small town.
But as of the afternoon, there
was no outward sign they’d had
success in finding buses to carry
them.
After bedding down at a city-
owned property on the outskirts
of the southern city of Juchitan,
the migrants wandered around
looking for something to eat as
classic songs by Mexican singer
Vicente Fernandez, known as “the
king of ranchera music,” played
in the background. Loudspeaker
announcements discussed bath
room use and a prohibition on
charging money to power their
cellphones.
Red Cross personnel bandaged
the swollen feet of Honduran
farmer Omar Lopez, who had
been pounding the hot asphalt of
highways every day for the last
two weeks after spending nights on
concrete sidewalks with just a thin
sheet of plastic for cover.
“We are waiting to see if they
are going to help us out with buses,
to continue the trip,” said Lopez,
27.
Organizers say the buses, if they
do materialize, would take the esti
mated 4,000 migrants to Mexico
City for meetings with legislators,
not to the still-distant U.S. border,
though some would probably con
tinue to the border after reaching
the capital.
That might not play well with
U.S. officials: White House press
secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders
on Wednesday specifically praised
Mexico for stopping the migrants
from getting rides. “Mexico has
stepped up in an unprecedented
way,” Sanders told Fox News.
“They have helped stop a lot of the
transportation means of these indi
viduals in these caravans, forcing
them walking. They have helped
us in new ways to slow this down,
to break this up and keep it from
moving as aggressively toward the
United States.”
The Mexican government, has,
in fact, taken a fairly contradictory
stance on helping or hindering the
first caravan, reflecting the coun
try’s balancing act: Officials don’t
want to irk Trump, but Mexicans
themselves have long suffered mis
treatment as migrants.
For the first week of the cara
van, Mexican federal police some
times enforced obscure safety
rules, forcing migrants off paid
mini-buses, citing insurance regu
lations. They also stopped over
loaded pickup trucks carrying
migrants and forced them to get
off. But in recent days, officials
from Mexico’s immigrant-protec
tion agency have organized rides
for women and children on the car
avan as a humanitarian effort.And
police have stood by as migrants
piled aboard freight trucks.
But the first caravan — which
‘I didn’t want to go,
but I’m unemployed
and I have to get
money to buy food
for my son. There is
no work here, and the
violence never stops.’
Jose Santos
planned to take a day of rest
Wednesday in Juchitan, about 900
miles from the nearest U.S. border
crossing — is only the start.
A second, smaller group of 1,000
or so migrants who forced their
way into Mexico on Monday was
trailing some 250 miles back. They
spent Tuesday night in Tapachula.
Behind them, a third group of
migrants from El Salvador had
already made it to Guatemala, and
on Wednesday a fourth group of
about 700 Salvadorans set out from
the capital, San Salvador, with
plans to walk to the U.S. border,
1,500 miles away.
Salvadoran man Jose Santos, 27,
brought his baby son with him on
the quixotic quest.
“I didn’t want to go, but I’m
unemployed and I have to get
money to buy food for my son,”
Santos said. “There is no work
here, and the violence never
stops.”
The caravans combined repre
sent just a few days’ worth of the
average flow of migrants to the
United States in recent years. Simi
lar caravans have occurred regu
larly over the years and passed
largely unnoticed, but U.S. Presi
dent Donald Trump has seized on
them to try to make border secu
rity a hot-button issue less than a
week before midterm elections.
The Pentagon has announced
it will deploy 5,200 troops to the
Southwest border, though federal
law restricts the military from
engaging in law enforcement on
U.S. soil. So their role would largely
be limited to activities such as pro
viding helicopter support for bor
der missions, installing concrete
barriers and vehicle maintenance,
rather than detaining migrants.
Trump said Wednesday that the
number could go as high as 15,000.
He also tweeted: “We will NOT let
these Caravans, which are also
made up of some very bad thugs
and gang members, into the U.S.
Our Border is sacred, must come
in legally. TURN AROUND!”
Worn down from long miles
of walking and frustrated by the
slow progress, many migrants
have done just that, dropping out
and returning home or applying
for protected status in Mexico.
The initial group is significantly
diminished from its estimated
peak at more than 7,000 migrants.
A caravan in the spring ultimately
fizzled to just about 200 people who
reached the U.S. border at San
Diego.
Mexican Interior Secretary
Alfonso Navarrete Prida said
about 2,300 have applied to stay in
Mexico under a government plan,
and hundreds more have accepted
assisted repatriation.
In Juchitan, Omar Lopez, the
Honduran farmer, said playing
soccer back home had given him
stamina but the “exaggerated”
walk has taken its toll.
“The sacrifice is worth the
effort,” Lopez said. “I promised to
buy my son a real motorcycle and
I’m going to make good. I promised
him many other things ... not only
things, I also want to give them
education. Everything good costs
money.”
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