Page 7 - aruba-today-20201002

A7
WORLD NEWS Friday 2 OctOber 2020
Hundreds of Honduran migrants set out for U.S. amid pandemic

By CLAUDIO ESCALON and attention, they really only past, authorities have set
SONIA PÉREZ D. account for a small fraction up roadblocks deeper
Associated Press of the daily migration flow in the country to winnow
CORINTO, Honduras (AP) — by small groups that pass down larger groups. A re-
About 2,000 Honduran mi- unnoticed through Central gional agreement allows
grants hoping to reach the America and Mexico. citizens of Honduras to tran-
United States entered Gua- The migrants who arrived sit through Guatemala.
temala on foot Thursday at the Guatemala border Governments through-
morning, testing the newly on Thursday had set out out the region made it
reopened frontier that had walking the previous night known they were watching
been shut by the coronavi- from San Pedro Sula, jump- Wednesday.
rus pandemic. ing the gun on their own Guatemala presidential
Authorities had planned scheduled departure. As spokeswoman Francis
to register the migrants as they walked down dark Masek said in a statement
they crossed and offer as- streets Wednesday night that authorities would en-
sistance to those willing to Guatemalan security forces try to keep back migrants from away from the bus station, force the law.
turn back, but the group crossing the border from Corinto, Honduras, into Corinto, they carried small knap- "We understand that the
crossed the official border Guatemala, Thursday, Oct. 1, 2020 sacks, and many wore economic situation of the
at Corinto without register- Associated Press masks. They appeared Northern Triangle countries
ing, according to Guate- "Even when you want to the past year. Under pres- to be mostly young men, has has become more criti-
mala immigration authori- find a job, there aren't any. sure from the United States, though there were the oc- cal with the effects of the
ties. Outnumbered officials That's why we leave our Mexico deployed its Na- casional small children be- pandemic, but this does
made no attempt to stop country," Molino said. tional Guard and more im- ing pushed in strollers. not justify taking the risk for
them. "There's the pandemic, and migration agents to break At the border, Guatema- adults, much less children,
Within hours Guatemalan it scares me," he added. up attempted caravans lan officials were asking the of starting the trip toward
authorities reported the first But he said he wouldn't be last year. They dispersed migrants to provide docu- the United States, which is
migrant death. A migrant able to help his family get large groups of migrants at- ments showing a nega- so dangerous and includes
tried to climb aboard a ahead without taking the tempting to travel together tive COVID-19 test — even many situations that can
moving flatbed trailer, but risk. in southern Mexico. Actu- though last week they said put lives at risk," the state-
fell under its wheels. Au- Central American migrants ally crossing into the U.S. they wouldn't require a test ment said.
thorities did not immediate- began traveling in large legally is virtually impossible for those spending less than Mexico's immigration
ly provide any additional groups in recent years, now with pandemic, and 72 hours in the country. agency said in a statement
details. seeking safety in numbers entering illegally is as diffi- But about 2,000 migrants that it would enforce "safe,
Before the crossing hap- and in some cases avoid- cult as ever. hustled through without orderly and legal" migra-
pened, Edwin Omar Mo- ing the cost of smugglers. The departure of the new registering. In addition, AP tion and not do anything to
lino, a 17-year-old from Calls for a new migrant car- group was reminiscent of journalists saw others cross- promote the formation of a
Cortes, said he wanted to avan to leave Oct. 1 had a migrant caravan that ing the border illegally near caravan. The U.S. Embassy
leave Honduras because circulated for weeks on so- formed two years ago the formal crossing. There in Honduras said on Twitter
he couldn't find work. He cial media. shortly before U.S. midterm were no reports of violence. Wednesday that migration
blamed President Juan Or- The odds of a large migrant elections. It became a hot Guatemala's military said to the U.S. was more diffi-
lando Hernández for run- caravan reaching the U.S. issue in the campaign, fuel- it was establishing interior cult than ever right now —
ning the country into the border, already low, have ing anti-immigrant rhetoric. checkpoints to review mi- and more dangerous be-
ground. grown increasingly slim over While the caravans draw grants' documents. In the cause of the coronavirus.q

Subway bread isn’t bread, Irish court says

sold by Subway contains has a sugar content of 10% ple food" and other baked
too much sugar to be cat- of the weight of the flour in- goods "which are, or ap-
egorized as a "staple food," cluded in the dough, and proach, confectionery or
which is not taxed. thus exceeds the 2% speci- fancy baked goods," the
"There is no dispute that the fied," the judgement read. judgement said. Subway
bread supplied by Subway The law makes a distinction disagreed with the charac-
in its heated sandwiches between "bread as a sta- terization in a statement. q

In this Friday, Feb. 23, 2018 file photo, the Subway logo is
seen on a soft drink cup next to a sandwich at a restaurant in
Londonderry, N.H..
Associated Press
LONDON (AP) — Ireland's Subway franchisee, which
Supreme Court has ruled argued that some of its
that bread sold by the fast takeaway products - in-
food chain Subway con- cluding teas, coffees and
tains so much sugar that it heated sandwiches - were
cannot be legally defined not liable for value-added
as bread. The ruling came tax. A panel of judges re-
in a tax dispute brought jected the appeal Tues-
by Bookfinders Ltd., an Irish day, ruling that the bread