Newspaper Page Text
4A Saturday, November 24, 2018
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
WORLD/POLITICS
Tijuana declares ‘humanitarian
crisis*, requests aid from UN
BY JULIE WATSON
Associated Press
RODRIGO ABD I Associated Press
Early morning light illuminates the face of a migrant woman and her child as she wakes
after sleeping under a bridge at the border crossing in Tijuana, Mexico, Friday, Nov. 23.
‘Because of the absence, the apathy
and the abandonment of the federal
government, we are having to turn to
international institutions like the U.N.’
Manuel Figueroa
Tijuana social services department leader
PAKISTAN
4 killed in attack at
Chinese consulate
BY ADIL JAWAD
Associated Press
TIJUANA, Mexico -
The mayor of Tijuana has
declared a humanitarian
crisis in his border city and
said Friday he was asking
the United Nations for aid to
deal with the approximately
5,000 Central American
migrants, most of whom
were camped out inside a
sports complex.
The comments by Mayor
Juan Manuel Gastelum
came as city officials and
volunteers worked together
to assist the 4,976 men,
women and children who
had arrived after more than
a month on the road. The
Trump administration has
spent weeks lambasting the
caravan, which it said was
filled with criminals, gang
members and even — it
insinuated at one point with
out any proof — terrorists.
Manuel Figueroa, who
leads the city’s social ser
vices department, said
Tijuana was bringing in por
table toilets and showers, as
well as shampoo and soap.
It wasn’t enough.
“Because of the absence,
the apathy and the abandon
ment of the federal govern
ment, we are having to turn
to international institutions
like the U.N.,” Figueroa said.
Rene Vazquez, 60, a
Tijuana resident volunteer
ing at the stadium, said
Mexico’s federal govern
ment ignored the problem
by allowing the caravan to
cross the country without
stopping. Now the city of
1.6M is stuck with the fallout.
“I don’t have anything
against the migrants, they
were the most deceived,
but this is affecting us all,”
Vazquez said.
Gastelum vowed not to
commit the city’s public
resources to dealing with the
situation. On Thursday, his
government issued a state
ment saying it was request
ing help from the U.N.’s
Office for the Coordination
of Humanitarian Affairs.
Vazquez, who plays on a
soccer team that uses the
sports complex, said Mexico
should step up now and pro
cess humanitarian visas for
the group so they can start
looking for work. Mean
while, since his soccer team
can no longer practice at the
complex, he was spending
time passing out donated
pizzas and roasted chicken
to the migrants.
The migrant caravan
that left Honduras in mid-
October was mostly well
received by the towns it
passed through along the
way to the border. Even cit
ies with few resources made
sure the migrants had food
and a place to rest.
But in those places, the
caravan stayed at most two
nights — with the exception
of Mexico City. In Tijuana,
many of the migrants who
are fleeing violence and
poverty are seeking asylum
in the United States and face
the prospect of spending
months in the border city
before they can speak with a
U.S. official.
Gastelum said Friday that
the Mexican government
has talked about sending 20
tons of resources to Tijuana
to help but that three-fourths
consisted of materials to
reinforce the border and
only 5 tons were for the
migrants.
The mayor also criticized
the federal government for
not taking more seriously
President Donald Trump’s
threat Thursday to shut
down the border if his
administration determined
Mexico had lost “control”
of the situation in Tijuana.
“That’s serious,” he said.
The migrants also were
receiving support from
local churches, private
citizens who have been
providing food, and vari
ous agencies of the Baja
California state government,
which says it identified 7,000
job openings for those who
qualify.
Adelaida Gonzalez, 37,
of Guatemala City arrived
in Tijuana three days ago
and was having a hard time
adjusting. She was tired of
sleeping on a blanket on a
dirt field, of waiting 30 min
utes to go to the bathroom
and again to get food and
didn’t know how much more
she could take.
“We would not have
risked coming if we had
known it was going to be
this hard,” said Gonzales,
who left Guatemala with
her 15-year-old son and her
neighbor.
KARACHI, Pakistan -
Armed separatists stormed
the Chinese Consulate in
Pakistan’s city of Karachi on
Friday, triggering an hour-
long shootout during which
two Pakistani civilians, two
officers and all three assail
ants were killed, including
one wearing a suicide vest,
Pakistani officials said.
The brazen assault,
claimed by a militant group
from the southwestern
province of Baluchistan,
reflected the separatists’
attempt to strike at the heart
of Pakistan’s ties with
major ally China, which
has invested heavily into
transportation projects in
the country, including in
Baluchistan.
In Beijing, Foreign Minis
try spokesman Geng Shuang
said China would not waver
in its latest project in Paki
stan — the China-Pakistan
Economic Corridor — and
expressed confidence Paki
stan could ensure safety.
Still, China asked Pakistan
to beef up security at the
mission.
Authorities said the dead
civilians were a father and
a son who were picking up
their visas for China. The
consulate’s diplomats and
staff were unhurt and were
evacuated to a safe place,
senior police official Ameer
Ahmad Sheikh said. A
spokeswoman at the Jinnah
Hospital said a consulate
guard was wounded and was
being treated there.
The attack began shortly
after 9 a.m. when the consul
ate was open for business.
The militants fired at con
sulate guards and hurled
grenades, breaching the
main gate and entering the
building, said Mohammad
Ashfaq, a local police chief.
Pakistani security forces
quickly surrounded the
area. Local TV stations
broadcast images showing
smoke rising from the build
ing, which also serves as the
residence of Chinese diplo
mats and staff.
Multiple blasts were
heard soon afterward but
Sheikh could not say what
they were. The shootout
lasted for about an hour.
“Because of a quick
response of the guards and
police, the terrorists could
not” reach the diplomats,
Sheikh said after the fighting
ended. “We have completed
the operation.”
Geng, the Chinese spokes
man, said the attackers did
not get into the consulate,
and the firefight took place
outside the building. The
discrepancy with Pakistani
officials’ reports could not
be immediately reconciled.
Pakistan’s Foreign Minis
ter Shah Mahmood Qureshi
spoke to his Chinese coun
terpart Wang Yi by phone
and assured him that a
“thorough investigation will
be carried out to apprehend
the perpetrators their finan
ciers, planners and facilita
tors” linked to the attack
on consulate, according to a
foreign ministry statement.
It quoted Yi as saying that
the attack was an attempt to
impact Pakistan China rela
tions and to harm the coun
tries’ economic pact.
Pakistani Prime Minister
Imran Khan condemned the
attack and praised the police
and the paramilitary rang
ers for their courage. He
ordered an investigation and
vowed such incidents would
never be able to undermine
relations with China, which
are “mightier than the
Himalayas and deeper than
the Arabian Sea.”
So far this year, the Bal-
uch Liberation Army has
claimed responsibility for
12 attacks against security
personnel guarding projects
linked to the Chinese Paki
stan Economic Corridor and
its infrastructure. In a let
ter dated Aug. 15, the group
released a letter warning
China against the “exploita
tion of Baluchistan’s mineral
wealth and occupation of
Baluch territory.” The let
ter was addressed to China’s
ambassador to Pakistan.
Democrats shift from impeachment
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - As
House Democrats begin lay
ing out the vision for their
majority, impeaching Trump
is noticeably missing.
The agenda includes pub
lic works projects, lower
ing health care costs and
increasing oversight of the
administration.
It’s the balance that Demo
cratic leader Nancy Pelosi
is trying to strike in the new
Congress between those on
her party’s left flank who
are eager to confront the
president, and her instinct to
prioritize the kitchen-table
promises that Democrats
made to voters who elected
them to office.
“We shouldn’t impeach
the president for political
reasons and we shouldn’t not
impeach the president for
political reasons,” Pelosi told
The Associated Press.
The California lawmaker,
who hopes to lead Demo
crats as House speaker come
January, calls impeachment
a “divisive activity” that
needs to be approached with
bipartisanship. “If the case
is there, then that should be
self-evident to Democrats
and Republicans,” she said.
Those pressing for
impeachment acknowledge
they don’t expect action on
Day One of the majority, but
want to see Democrats lay
groundwork for proceedings.
“We’re for impeachment.
We’re not for get-sworn-in-
on-J an. -1 -and-start-taking-
votes,” said Kevin Mack, the
lead strategist for billion
aire Tom Steyer’s Need to
Impeach campaign.
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