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WORLD NEWS Dialuna 20 December 2021

Migrants rally in Mexico City to mark immigration day

(AP) — About 100 mi-
grants who trekked on
foot north from the Gua-
temalan border gathered
in Mexico City on Satur-
day to mark International
Migrants Day and remem-
ber fellow travelers who
have died on the journey.

The migrants gathered at in
improvised memorial to the
victims of the 2010 massacre
of 72 migrants by the Ze-
tas drug cartel in Mexico’s
northern state of Tamauli-
pas. The memorial is on the rific truck crash last week in sacre in January that killed 19 not forget the painful daily of these measures,” the state-
side of the city’s main central the southern state of Chiapas. people, including 16 Gua- tragedies that migrants often ment added.
boulevard, near the U.S. Em- The first few bodies of those temalan migrants, in the suffer in silence: disappear-
bassy. victims were expected to be northern state of Tamaulipas. ances, executions, extorsion, The Mexican government
returned to their homeland Twelve state police officers rape, torture,” the groups has tried to appease the Unit-
The demonstrators erected a of Guatemala over the week- face charges in those killings. wrote. ed States by stopping cara-
plaque that read in part “Mi- end. vans of walking migrants and
gration is a human right.” It continued with Mexican “In their rush to contain mi- allowing the reinstatement
Many in the group had In a statement marking the government efforts to pre- gration to the United States, of the “Remain in Mexico”
walked since late October day, a coalition of groups vent the formation of new the U.S. government, as policy. But Mexico has been
from the Mexican border representing the families of migrant caravans, and then well as Mexico, Honduras, unable to stanch the flood of
city of Tapachula, after the Central American migrants the Dec. 9 crash of a semi- Guatemala, El Salvador and migrants stuffed by the hun-
government prevented them who have disappeared in trailer truck packed with mi- other Latin American coun- dreds into trucks operated by
from hitching rides. Mexico described 2021 as “a grants. tries, are tightening up and smugglers who charge thou-
year of setbacks.” militarizing their immigra- sands of dollars to take them
The group also remembered “These were the visible trag- tion policies, without taking to the U.S. border — trips
56 migrants killed in a hor- The year started with a mas- edies of 2021, but we must into account the human cost that all too often turn deadly.

Typhoon deaths in Philippines top 140; mayors plead for food

(AP) — The death toll in ther damaged or blown away
the strongest typhoon to entirely.
batter the Philippines this
year has reached at least At least 227 cities and towns
146, and the governor of lost electricity, which has
an island province espe- since been restored in only
cially hard-hit by Typhoon 21 areas, officials said, adding
Rai said there may be even that three regional airports
greater devastation that were damaged, including two
has yet to be reported. that remain closed.

Gov. Arthur Yap of Bohol The deaths and widespread
province in the central Phil- damage left by the typhoon
ippines said 72 people died ahead of Christmas in the
there, 10 others were missing largely Roman Catholic na-
and 13 injured, and suggested towns, Yap said “it is very Officials on Dinagat Islands, prone to typhoons,’” Duterte tion brought back memories
the fatalities may still con- clear that the damage sus- one of the southeastern prov- told officials. of the catastrophe inflicted
siderably increase because tained by Bohol is great and inces first pounded by the ty- by another typhoon, Haiyan,
only 33 of 48 mayors were all-encompassing.” phoon, separately reported 10 At its strongest, the typhoon one of the most powerful
able to report back to him deaths just from a few towns, packed sustained winds of on record. It hit many of the
due to downed communica- He said the initial inspec- bringing the overall fatalities 195 kilometers (121 miles) central provinces that were
tions. Officials were trying to tion did not cover four towns so far to 146. per hour and gusts of up to pummeled last week, leaving
confirm a sizable number of where the typhoon blew in as 270 kph (168 mph), making more than 6,300 people dead
deaths caused by landslides it rampaged through central President Rodrigo Duterte it one of the most power- in November 2013.
and extensive flooding else- island provinces on Thurs- flew to the region Saturday ful in recent years to hit the
where. day and Friday. The govern- and promised 2 billion pe- disaster-prone archipelago, At the Vatican, Pope Francis
ment said about 780,000 peo- sos ($40 million) in aid. He which lies between the Pa- expressed his closeness Sun-
In statements posted on ple were affected, including met officials in Maasin City cific Ocean and the South day to the people of the Phil-
Facebook, Yap ordered may- more than 300,000 residents in Southern Leyte province China Sea. ippines, referencing the ty-
ors in his province of more who had to evacuate their where he was born. Duterte’s phoon “that destroyed many
than 1.2 million people to in- homes. family later relocated to Floodwaters rose rapidly in homes.”
voke their emergency powers the southern city of Davao, Bohol’s riverside town of
to secure food packs for large At least 64 other typhoon where he served as a long- Loboc, where residents were About 20 storms and ty-
numbers of people along deaths were reported by the time mayor before rising to trapped on their roofs and in phoons batter the Philippines
with drinking water. Both disaster-response agency, the the presidency. trees. They were rescued by each year. The archipelago
have been urgently sought in national police and local of- the coast guard the following also lies along the seismically
several hard-hit towns. ficials. Most were hit by fall- “The moment I was born day. On Dinagat Islands, an active Pacific “Ring of Fire”
ing trees and collapsed walls, into this world, I told my official said the roofs of near- region, making it one of the
After joining a military aerial drowned in flash floods or mother, `Let’s not stay here ly all the houses, including countries most susceptible to
survey of typhoon-ravaged were buried in landslides. because this place is really emergency shelters, were ei- natural calamities.