Trump says US to start cutting aid as migrant caravan rolls on
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TAPACHULA: President Donald Trump said on Monday the US will start cutting aid to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador as a caravan of thousands of mostly Honduran migrants rolled on regardless towards the US border.
Trump kept up his almost-daily Twitter attacks on the approaching caravan, calling it a national emergency and said he had alerted the US border patrol and military.
“We will now begin cutting off, or substantially reducing, the massive foreign aid” that the United States provides to the three Central American countries, he said.
Mexican authorities had managed to block the “caravan” of migrants on a border bridge between Mexico and Guatemala, but many later crossed the river below in makeshift rafts before marching north.
The caravan of around 3,000 migrants was heading on Monday to the town of Huixtla, around 40kms further on from Tapachula in Chiapas State where they slept Sunday night.
“Sadly, it looks like Mexico’s Police and Military are unable to stop the Caravan heading to the Southern Border of the United States. Criminals and unknown Middle Easterners are mixed in,” Trump said in one tweet.
“I have alerted Border Patrol and Military that this is a National Emergy (sic). Must change laws!”
Activists say the journey through of at least 3,000 kilometers through Mexico to the US border could take a month.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also warned that the migrants “may be victimised by human smugglers or others who would exploit them”.
“We also are deeply concerned by the violence provoked by some members of the group, as well as the apparent political motivation of some organisers of the caravan,” Pompeo said in a statement.
Honduran farmer Edwin Geovanni Enamorado said he was forced to leave his country because of intimidation by racketeering gangs. “We are tired, but very happy, we are united and strong,” he said.
The migrants are generally fleeing poverty and insecurity in Honduras, where powerful street gangs rule their turf with brutal violence.
With a homicide rate of 43 per 100,000 citizens, Honduras is one of the most violent countries in the world, according to a Honduran university study.
Published in Dawn, October 23rd, 2018
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