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WORLD NEWS Friday 29 december 2023

Mexican officials clear border camp as U.S. pressure mounts to

limit migrant crossings

By VALERIE GONZALEZ ation began late Tuesday.
Associated Press “They ran us out,” he said,
MATAMOROS, Mexico explaining that campers
(AP) — A ragged migrant were given short notice
tent camp next to the Rio to move their tents and
Grande is a long way from belongings and felt intimi-
Mexico’s National Palace, dated by the heavy ma-
where a U.S. delegation chinery. “You had to run for
met this week with Mexico’s your life to avoid an acci-
president seeking more ac- dent.”
tion to curb a surge of mi- Some migrants moved into
grants reaching the U.S. a fenced-in area of the
border. encampment where im-
But as Mexican officials in migration officers said they
the city of Matamoros dis- could relocate, but fear re-
patched heavy machin- mained. About 70 migrants
ery to clear out what they flung themselves into the
claimed were abandoned river Tuesday night and
tents at the camp, the ac- crossed into the U.S. They
tion was a likely sign of were trapped for hours
things to come. along the riverbank be-
The United States has given neath the layers of concer-
clear signs, including tem- tina wire set up on order of
porarily closing key border Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, center, meets with U.S. Secretary of State the Texas governor.
rail crossings into Texas, Antony Blinken, top left, partially covered, and his Secretary of Foreign Relations Alicia Barcena, Few options exist for the mi-
that it wants Mexico to do top right, at the National Palace, the office and residence of the president, in Mexico City, grants who were asked to
more to stop migrants hop- Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2023. Associated Press leave the encampment,
ping freight cars, buses and said Glady Cañas, found-
trucks to the border. to look for a solution to- on Dec. 16 to about 9,500 waded across the river to er of a Matamoros-based
President Andrés Manuel gether.” on Dec. 25. reach the United States. nongovernmental group,
López Obrador said he got Mexico, desperate to get That increased effort ap- “What we are doing is re- Ayudandoles a Triunfar, or
a worried phone call on the border crossings re- peared to be on display in moving any tents that we Helping Them Win.
Dec. 20 from U.S. President opened to its manufac- Matamoros Wednesday as see are empty,” Segismun- “The truth is that the shelters
Joe Biden. tured goods, started to U.S. Secretary of State Ant- do Doguín, the head of the are saturated,” Cañas said.
“He asked, Joe Biden give indications it would ony Blinken held talks with local office of Mexico’s im- She was working at the en-
asked to speak with me, crack down a bit. López López Obrador in Mexico migration agency, said. campment Wednesday
he was worried about the Obrador said Thursday that City. Migrants set up the But one Honduran who afternoon, encouraging
situation on the border be- Mexico detained more mi- encampment across from would give only his first migrants to avoid crossing
cause of the unprecedent- grants in the week lead- Brownsville, Texas in late name, José, claimed that illegally into the U.S., espe-
ed number of migrants ar- ing up to Christmas than 2022. It once held as many some of the 200 remaining cially after several drowned
riving at the border,” López the United States did, with as 1,500 migrants, but migrants were practically in the last few days while
Obrador said Thursday. “He Mexican detentions rising many tents were vacated forced to leave the camp attempting to swim the
called me, saying we had from about 8,000 per day in recent months as people when the clearance oper- river.q

More than 40 dead in Liberia after leaking fuel tanker exploded as

people tried to collect gas

By MARK N. MENGONFIA
Associated Press
MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) — A leaking fuel tanker exploded earlier this week as people
gathered to collect the gasoline, leaving more than 40 dead, authorities in Liberia said
Thursday.
The blast on Tuesday also injured at least 83 people in the town of Totota in the central
part of the West African country, health officials said.
Many of the dead were buried in a mass grave on Wednesday because their remains
were unrecognizable, said health official Dr. Cynthia Blapook in Bong County. Health
authorities said an exact death toll was difficult to confirm because of how badly the
bodies were burned.
Liberian Vice President Jewel Howard-Taylor attended the mass funeral.
“We never expected to start the new year like this,” Howard-Taylor said.
Health officials said the number of injured could rise as they were not certain everyone
had been brought in for care. A doctor at one hospital treating the injured urged the In this photo provided by the Liberia National Red Cross
Liberian government to deploy a disaster management team and to have one in each Society, health workers from the Liberia National Red Cross
county to respond to emergencies. Dr. Minnie Sankawolo-Rocks also pleaded with peo- Society and the Bong County Health Team move the bodies of
ple not to approach fuel tankers in the hope of collecting much-needed gasoline. Simi- victims of a tanker explosion in Totota, Liberia, Tuesday Dec.
lar deadly accidents have occurred elsewhere in Africa.q 26, 2023.
Associated Press