Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 7 February 2019

Migrant caravan detained in old factory, across from Texas

Associated Press main in Mexico, the news-
PIEDRAS NEGRAS, Mexico paper reported.
(AP) — A caravan of 1,600 Meanwhile, the factory’s
Central American migrants rooms have been turned
is surrounded by Mexican into sleeping areas divided
authorities in an old factory by age and gender, with
a short distance from Texas, blue foam mattresses, the
where they hope to seek Express-News said.
asylum but appear to have They may have to wait
a faint chance. weeks, if not months, to re-
The migrants arrived on quest asylum. According to
buses Monday in Piedras Mexican officials , customs
Negras, Mexico, across officials in Eagle Pass pro-
the Rio Grande from Eagle cess 12 to 15 applications
Pass, Texas. The caravan is a day.
the first in recent months to A spokesman for U.S. Cus-
head toward Texas instead toms and Border Protec-
of California. tion did not immediately
President Donald Trump respond to a request to
in his State of the Union confirm those numbers,
speech Tuesday night ac- but asylum seekers across
cused Mexican cities of the U.S.-Mexico border re-
busing migrants to the bor- port being turned away or
der “to bring them up to Members of a Central American family leave a shelter in Piedras Negras, Mexico, Tuesday, Feb. forced to wait in informal
our country in areas where 5, 2019. queues to see a customs
there is little border pro- Associated Press officer. The U.S. Depart-
tection.” U.S. Customs and ly controlled the factory safety. Coahuila has long The San Antonio Express- ment of Homeland Security
Border Protection has bol- where the migrants are be- been plagued by the now- News reported that mi- has started implementing
stered staffing and con- ing held. Migrants were not fragmented Zetas cartel as grants who tried to climb a a plan requiring all asylum
ducted exercises with of- allowed to stay anywhere well as by cold weather. 12-foot (3.7-meter) fence seekers at the southern bor-
ficers in riot gear, and the else. “These types of caravans Monday night and escape der to remain in Mexico.
Defense Department said The government of the have been victims of or- were pushed back. On the Texas side, a long
Wednesday that it would northern border state of ganized crime groups that Long lines were forming in- line of law enforcement
send 250 soldiers to Eagle Coahuila said it organized try to force the migrants to side the factory of people vehicles was guarding the
Pass in a support capacity. 49 buses from the interior work for them,” said Jose applying for “humanitar- U.S. side of the Rio Grande
But the Mexican police and cities of Saltillo and Artea- Maria Fraustro, the state’s ian visas” to allow them to to catch anyone trying to
soldiers already have tight- ga to ensure the migrants’ interior secretary. leave the enclosure but re- cross illegally.q

Venezuela military barricades bridge in attempt to block aid

By CHRISTINE ARMARIO says is seeking to colonize tion from being the wealthi-
SCOTT SMITH Venezuela and exploit its est in South America into a
Associated Press vast oil resources. state of abject poverty and
CUCUTA, Colombia (AP) “We are not beggars,” despair,” Trump said.
— The Venezuelan military Maduro said this week in The White House has an-
has attempted to block a speech to troops broad- nounced that Colombian
humanitarian aid from en- cast on state TV, adding President Ivan Duque and
tering the country by bar- that there is no humanitar- First Lady Maria Juliana Ruiz
ricading a bridge at a key ian crisis. Sandoval will visit on Feb.
border crossing, Colom- Guaido has described the 13 to discuss pro-growth
bian officials said Wednes- emergency shipments as policies, terrorism and illicit
day. a “test” for Venezuela’s narcotic networks, regional
The bridge was blocked a armed forces, which will security partnerships and
day prior by the Venezu- have to choose if they al- efforts to restore democ-
elan National Guard with low the much needed aid racy in Venezuela.
a fuel tanker, two cargo An immigration official observes a fuel tanker, cargo trailers to pass, or if they instead Colombian Foreign Minis-
trailers and makeshift fenc- and makeshift fencing, used as barricades by Venezuelan obey orders. ter Carlos Holmes Trujillo on
authorities attempting to block humanitarian aid entering from
ing near the border town of Colombia on the Tienditas International Bridge that links the In his State of the Union ad- Wednesday condemned
Cucuta in Colombia. two countries as seen from the outskirts of Cucuta, Colombia, dress Tuesday night, U.S. any attempts to block aid
“It’s a means of intimida- Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2019. President Donald Trump from entering. “Committing
tion, but I don’t think it will Associated Press ratcheted up pressure on such a crime would give
accomplish anything,” said Juan Guaido, who says aid will begin flowing into the embattled Maduro even more reason for the
Alba Pereira of nonprofit he’s assumed presiden- the South American coun- government, saying that unified countries to ask the
Entre Dos Tierras. “It’s con- tial powers as head of the try despite Maduro’s objec- the U.S. stands with the International Criminal Court
venient for them to let the opposition-led National As- tions. people of Venezuela in to investigate Maduro,”
country continue enduring sembly and hopes to oust But a defiant Maduro main- their “noble quest for free- Trujillo told reporters after
this absurd crisis.” President Nicolas Maduro tains control of the military dom.” “We condemn the another meeting with the
Roughly 40 countries and restore democracy to and calls the Guaido-led brutality of the Maduro re- head of the Organization
around the world have Venezuela. opposition a puppet of the gime, whose socialist poli- of American States, Luis
backed opposition leader Guaido said humanitarian United States, which he cies have turned that na- Almagro.q