Translate

Tuesday, December 18, 2018

Caravana Migrante Updates: Zeta Reports Serious Crisis Within The Caravan - Zeta's December Stats For TIJ: As Of 12/17/18 @ 11:49am 131 People Executed - YTD Total For TIJ = 2,416 People Dead - Six Attacks On Police In TIJ In One Week

I'm still here, barely.  I had my appointment at the Sharp-Reese Steely Wound Center yesterday and had a third compression bandage (uni-boot) applied to my leg.  I have eight more appointments lined up until February, it is that bad.  I'm still on antibiotics but no pain meds, although it hurts, a complete disaster and the Doc said today, "...wow, that's some shark bite."

Meanwhile on the trip back we heard on the San Diego radio news there was a problem at the Otay Mesa POE with the migrantes but searching around I could find no news, so we'll see if anything appears later today re the situation there. Regarding the several hundreds of migrantes who have been camped out on the street (Cinco de Mayo) next to the baseball field, a new alberque has been located for them:

 - From Frontera: Please note Angeles sin Fronteras is a local pro-migante organization, completely not affiliated with Pueblos Sin Fronteras.

Nueva Alberque No Tendra Costo a la Federacion
Por, Khennia Reyes - 12/15/18 

Pasted:

"TIJUANA, Baja California (GH)
The new shelter for the Central American caravan that was left outside the Benito Juárez Sports Unit will not represent any expense for the Tijuana residents or the federal government.

This was announced by Gilberto Herrera, delegate of Morena of the Integral Development Programs, during the opening of the shelter, which will be for almost 400 migrants, including children, women and adults.

"The Tijuanenses will not cost a single peso. It is a space that was provided for one or two months as a temporary shelter in which normalizes the situation, "he reiterated.

Herrera stressed that the space was achieved by the efforts of father and activist Alejandro Solalinde Guerra and Jaime Bonilla, delegate of the federal government in Baja California.

Services
 
"Against all odds" is the name that the migrants gave to the space, which has the capacity to receive 600 people along the 3 thousand 800 square meters, where it is prohibited the consumption of drugs and alcohol.

There the Central Americans will have the service of dining room, bathrooms, showers, in addition to the attention of the immigration and health authorities.

Herrera said that the people who are currently housed in El Barretal will not have access to the new space, since the migrants want to leave them to maintain order.

In that sense, Lourdes Lizardi, activist and coordinator of the civil association Ángeles Sin Frontera, and Celio Archaga, pastor of the Christian church A Seed of Hope, of Honduras, will be in charge of the control of the shelter.

"Is not easy. There is always a huge remnant that does not want to submit and they think they are in Honduras. Here we are in Tijuana and we must learn to respect the ground directly where it opens the doors for us, "he said.

Regarding the people who are reluctant to leave 5 de Mayo Street, Gilberto Herrera said they risk being arrested for sleeping on the roads."

Video here.
~~~~~
I've noticed some US reports which have stated how horrible the conditions were at the baseball field (where the migrantes were dumped by the great revolutionaries) prior to them being moved to El Barretal which the report is saying itself is lacking medical care . Not according to El Sol:
Por, Laura Bueno Medina 
Pasted: 
" Dr. Óscar Ginera Aparicio, head of the Health Services Jurisdiction number 2, indicated that all infected patients are under surveillance; however, they can not be restricted from contact with the rest of the population.
The cases increased in the course of eight days approximately, when there were only eight cases, between adults and infants, for the prevention of this virus 34 vaccines have been applied mostly to minors.
 
However, the work with the migrant caravan by the health services has been one thousand 95 vaccines applied to more than a month of what will arrive in the city.
 
Of the total of vaccines applied, 400 biologicals are anti-influenza; 395, of tetanus; and 229, for the prevention of hepatitis B for adults.
 
Likewise, Dr. Óscar Ginera added that 27 vaccines against hepatitis B were also applied, but for infants, as well as six triple viral vaccines.
 
He specified that the attention to migrants located in "El Barretal" is continued on a permanent basis, and in the warehouse to which the Central Americans who were located in Benito Juarez moved, visits of medical services are being scheduled.
 
Finally, it was reported that, in the mobile hospital enabled from the first days of the arrival of the caravan, 94 different cases have been attended of which only 15 have merited transfer to the general hospital of the city."

~~~~~ 

 - From Zeta:

Grave Crisis en Caravana Acciones "Descabelladas"
Por, Manuel Ayala   - 12/17/2018

Pasted:

The migrant caravan is divided, it has lost strength and now it has been submerged in a deep crisis to which they have not been able to respond. Contrary to seeking alternatives, Central Americans have become vulnerable to the stalking of alleged leaders who have taken unusual actions and have tarnished the credibility of the movement. The Mexican government says it has solved the problem, while activists warn that the problems are just beginning
 
A month after the arrival of the first contingent of the migrant caravan to Tijuana, the crisis within Tijuana has generated division among Central Americans, who are taking decisions "out of context".
The request of a group of migrants to speed up the reception of asylum applications in the United States and another group that requires them to provide free transit to the neighboring country, or in their case an economic compensation of 50 thousand dollars to each of them to return to their places of origin, are examples of the "crazy" actions that have taken place.
 
 I request a blanket request, increase to 300 the daily receptions of asylum requests in San Ysidro sentry boxes.

 
This has not only startled the activists or citizens, but the US authorities themselves for the "outdated" of the matter, but because it seemed a "kind of threat" that does not fall within any of the possibilities that the government could accept at the time. headed by Donald Trump, who has shown his total rejection not only to the caravan, but to every Central American and even Mexican migrant, whom on several occasions he has labeled as "criminals", responding with a resounding "no" to his requests.

 
On the other hand, federal authorities announced that the migration crisis in Tijuana ended, and that in just five days of the new government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador it could be resolved, something that activists do not agree with, because as has been seen , the lack of knowledge and the "malleability" to which the vast majority of migrants are exposed, is causing alleged leaders to take advantage of the situation.
 
"The lack of certainty has also divided us," said Milton Hernández, a Honduran migrant who participated with the group that made the request for financial compensation, because "we are not very in agreement with other leaders."
 

EVERYONE BY THEIR SIDE; "LEADERS CONTINUE TO TAKE ADVANTAGE"


 On Tuesday, December 11, two different groups of migrants - unknown to each other - marched each on their own to the facilities of the US Consulate in Tijuana, to deliver petitions to the authority of that country.
The first group, led by the Honduran Alfonso Guerrero Ulloa, highlighted among their requests:
  1. Allow free entry to all members of the exodus to US territory
  2. Put a stop to US economic, political and military intervention in territory

  1. Central American, withdrawing the 13 military bases and all extractive companies.
  2. If they do not want the entry of migrants into the United States, take Juan Orlando Hernández out of Honduras and give them 50,000 dollars so that each of the migrants can return to their countries.
The second group, headed by Irineo Mujica, of Pueblos Sin Fronteras, only requested an immediate increase in the number of asylum seekers processed to at least 300 people a day and through the San Ysidro sentry boxes, measured on the basis that only about 50 are received. up to date.
 
Situations both that caused confusions between one and another groups; The first was made known thanks to a Change.org petition, which the alleged leader Guerrero Ulloa does not belong to the migrant caravan and has at least 30 years out of his country, due to an accusation of terrorism in 1987.
 

The petition mentions that Alfonso Guerrero Ulloa was "falsely" accused of being a material actor in an attack that took place at the China Palace restaurant in the city of Comayagua, Honduras, where six Marines from the Palmerola Military Base were injured.
 
"It took me into exile, they are already 30 years away from my homeland and family, living miserably. I believe I have the right to fair compensation and my return to my country, "says the accused.
 
Migrants consulted said they did not know anything about that situation and trusted that their new leader would take them forward "as others have not," said Jorge Yamil, who participated in the march.
 
THEY DISCONNECT BETWEEN GROUPS
 
Xóchitl Castillo, originally from Nicaragua and a member of the group led by Pueblos Sin Fronteras, did not know the group that made the request of 50 thousand dollars for each of them and even claimed to have no idea why or how such a group emerged, in the understanding that they are part of an exodus and the requests are made together.
 
He clarified that all they want is to "expedite the procedures", but when asked if there is a division within the caravan, regarding the different leaders that have been emerging, he did not answer, because "here we are an exodus and I do not really know what is happening, we just like you are surprised at that. "
 
For José María García Lara, director of the Youth Hostel 2000 and coordinator of the Migrant Alliance, this is part of the division that has been generated within the caravan due to the crisis in which migrants are taking into account.
 
For several weeks, inside the lodge enabled in the El Barretal property, the Central Americans have been dividing by "department", that is, the Hondurans by regions of origin; Salvadorans, Nicaraguans and Guatemalans, being minority, also grouped together.
 

This began to be carried out in a strategic way to request groceries in the shelter, but little by little they have gained a sense of organization thanks to the fact that in them the alleged leaders have seen spaces to "malign them".
 
"This does not add more than a little more to the bad image that the caravan that has been asking for asylum already has; asking for money is very unfortunate, because they deteriorate the image of people who are asking for asylum and want to enter the United States in a good way, "said the activist.

FEDERATION MINIMIZES THE CRISIS; US DENIES FREE ENTRY AND INDEMNIFICATION
 
A day after these "crazy" measures were presented, the new Interior Minister, Olga Sánchez Cordero, shared that the current government had resolved in just five days the humanitarian crisis of the migrant caravan in the shelters of the city.
 
The federal official noted via Twitter : "In 5 days we have resolved the migration crisis that was in Tijuana, Baja California. We install health centers, dining rooms, bedrooms and children's activities. "
Statements with which activists were not totally in agreement, because although they recognize that control has already been maintained and the situation is calmer, the problem at the border persists and "there is still a lot of work to be done".
 
José María García Lara is one of those who recognizes that things go "on the right track", but disagrees in the sense that persists the problem about the insertion of people to jobs, active working life and the community itself.
 
Added to that there is a group of 400 migrants who subsist outside of the "Benito Juárez" Sports Unit in the open and without attention, waiting for a resolution on their cases, so it is important to focus on what they will do with them, since there is Complete families with women and children.
 
During a visit to Tijuana on Saturday, December 8, the priest and activist Alejandro Solalinde offered to be an intermediary in the work of convincing this contingent, so that he can move to Barretal and other hostels, but it would have to be the authority that allows those actions, of which no response has been given.
 
At the close of this edition, it was reported that a winery a few meters from the camp would be able to house the 550 migrants who remained on the street."

* Note in Zeta's report, Pueblos Sin Fronteras are mentioned as bearers of part of the rental of the new alberque - neither Frontera or El Sol has mentioned this...and this information is from "activists". Frontera names Los Angeles de Frontera as part of the directorship of this new care center - so maybe there is a misprint in Zeta's article.  Unless there has been a truce between Pueblos Sin Fronteras and Padre Solalinde, but I think we would have heard a lot about that and we have not.
 
Municipality lied about the number of migrants in the city: Bonilla
 
  Jaime Bonilla, current state delegate of the Government of Mexico and who served as head of the Commission on Border and Migratory Affairs of the Senate of the Republic, said that it was a lie of the municipal authorities to have said that it was 12 thousand and then 9 thousand migrants who would arrive in Tijuana, since "there has never been that amount".
 
In a press conference, he affirmed that the numbers of the total of migrants "have been exaggerated", and that of the 100 million pesos that the mayor Juan Manuel Gastélum asked to attend such a large number of people, "it is an outrage, they are going to deliver, "at least not for that matter," much less if we are seeing the alchemy that is thrown up here and that resources disappear, because less will be given to it, "Bonilla reiterated.
 
As a Federation, the issue will be addressed, so now the Government of Mexico has a control and they are really seeing the numbers, which they estimated at around 4,100 migrants in Baja California.
According to Jaime Bonilla, the lie of the local authorities generated "much panic" among the citizens, but in reality "there have not been as many" migrants as was mentioned from the beginning.
 
"Yes there were conflicts, but we can not say as the mayor said, it was not possible for a Honduran to have murdered a Haitian, when he has two thousand and a fraction of murders and has never made that expression; you can not exaggerate an incident to point out a Honduran, when here we have thousands of deaths every day, "said Moreno.
 
As the first authority, "it is not valid" to take that position because it is "discriminating, it is arrogant in many ways, but at the end of the day it is not correct (...) the municipal presidency has lost a lot of credibility, has invented many lies," he concluded.
 
According to information from activists, the rent of the place will be borne by Pueblos sin Fronteras, Father Alejandro Solalinde and the Government of Mexico, through Jaime Bonilla.
 
In that sense, he considered "totally good" that in legal terms the situation has been resolved, but it is still necessary to see how they will be integrated into the Tijuana community, in the case of those who decide to stay in Mexico, taking into account that The United States responded with a strong "no" to the requests of the migrants.


Through a statement, Katie Waldman, spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS, for its acronym in English), shared that it will not be possible to accept the requirement that the American Union pay 50 thousand dollars for migrants to return to your country of origin.
As secretary Kirstjen Michele Nielsen has repeatedly stated, "being a member of a caravan does not grant special rights to enter this country," in addition, that the vast majority of members "are not legitimate asylum seekers," and if they were, they would seek refuge in the first safe country they entered.
 
"However, as expected, they rejected the generous offer of Mexico in search of economic opportunities or family reunification in the United States. Economic opportunity or family reincorporation is not a basis for asylum under any system, "he said.
  • Finally, he shared that it seems that some of the migrants have understood this situation and the commitment of the Donald Trump administration to "enforce the rule of law", which means a strong message that "they must return home." 
 
* Note:  From the same Zeta article, but this is not what I have been reading from some US reports (and you have to wonder if they are promoters for the NGO's. ) These reports from the US are saying there is no work available for the migrantes in Tijuana, that they can find nothing, they cannot find a job no matter how hard they try.  A different story from Zeta: 


Hondurans are opting for humanitarian visas
 
  Alden Rivera, Ambassador of Honduras in Mexico, highlighted that in Tijuana, more than 1,200 people from that country are already applying to obtain a humanitarian visa, in order to work; or, they already have a job in the city.
 
Thousand 500 people have registered in the book to apply for asylum in the United States, but there are still 800 people who do not make a decision regarding asylum in Mexico or the United States.
 
According to information from Manuel Marín, subdelegate of the National Institute of Migration, to date more than 700 voluntary returns have been submitted to their countries of origin, in addition to 300 assisted returns, for reasons that some authority made them available to the Institute. for having broken the Law.
 
Added to this, there have been 2,500 procedures for humanitarian visas and 25 requests for refuge of people held at the migrant station in Tijuana.
 
From November 12 to date, more than 3,000 Central Americans have surrendered by skipping the border fence, reported the United States Border Patrol."

~~~~~ 

Then of course there is always the drug war, here are the latest stats for Tijuana from Zeta:

22 Ejecutados En 48 Horas, En Tijuana 

Pasted:


"In the last 48 hours in Tijuana, 22 people have been deprived of life in different events, so the number of intentional homicides amounts to 131 victims so far in December.
 
The morning of Saturday, December 15, in a vacant lot located on the Xicoténcatl avenue of the Camino Verde colony, Delegación Sánchez Taboada, was found a lifeless male with puncturing injuries.
 
Then a human body wrapped in a white blanket was found in the street Colorines of the Jardines de la Mesa colony, in the Los Pinos subdelegation.
 
In the Santiago alley of the Buena Vista neighborhood, the corpse of a man wrapped in a blue canvas was found. The victim had injuries by firearm. Next to the body was a white cardboard with a legend, which until now is unknown.
 
Alexis Rodolfo de La Cruz Castro died in the General Hospital, after being shot.
 
On the dirt road of the Federal Electricity Commission in the Lomas de Matamoros neighborhood, human remains were found.
 
Inside the canalization of the Tijuana River in the Center area was reported the corpse of a male with puncturing injuries.
 
Two men were located without life inside an address on Bahía Magdalena street in Colonia Ejido Francisco Villa. The victims had injuries caused by firearms.
 
The corpses of two men were found in the Quintana Roo alley of the Central Zone. One of them died from strangulation and the other from puncture injuries.
 
With gunshot wounds in the neck, the corpse of a male person was located on Avenida de las Américas in the El Laurel subdivision.
 
A body wrapped in plastic and cinnamon-colored adhesive tape in the cephalic region was located on a neighborhood road near a maquiladora in the Rural Dam delegation.
 
Yesterday, Sunday December 16, nine people were killed in different points: first a double shooting was recorded in Privada Dalia in the San Pedro Valley subdivision. One of the victims was identified as José Guadalupe Sánchez Pasillas, 45, the other remains as a stranger.
 
Later, a man without life was located in a neighborhood road to the Laurel subdivision of the second section, in the Rural Dam Delegation. The cause of death is still unknown.
 
Later on the old road to Tecate in the colony Ejido Rojo Gómez, in the Rural Reservoir, a shootout broke out between a group of delinquents and municipal police, leaving as a result a dead agent identified as César Gallardo Rodríguez and two alleged dead hit men.

The burnt corpse of a stranger was located in a neighborhood road in the Palma Real subdivision
 
Juan Antonio Peraza Guardado died in the General Hospital after the injuries caused by a firearm projectile.
 
A stranger was shot dead when he was on Avenida Benito Juarez in Colonia Centro.
 
Finally, on the morning of this Monday, December 17, a severed human head was located inside the Tijuana River Canalization, and meters away on the East Fast Track, at the height of the Guadalupe Victoria colony, the decapitated body was found.
 
So far this year in Tijuana have been killed 2 thousand 416 people."

~~~~~

Zeta adds this report on the six police attacked en Tijuana in one weeks time:

Seis ataques a Policias de Tijuana En Una Semana
Por, Ines Garcia Ramos 

Pasted:

" Agents of the Municipal Police of Tijuana have suffered six attacks, four of them armed, from Monday 10 to Sunday 16 December. In one case, one policeman was killed and another was shot, while in a field fight a district chief was hit with a severe blow to the head.
 
For the head of the Municipal Public Security Secretariat (SSPM), Marco Antonio Sotomayor Amezcua, these attacks are not direct attacks, but the reactions of the criminals in routine interventions carried out by the police.
 
In the most recent case, which occurred on Sunday, a clash between police and a group of armed men who had deprived a man of freedom in the eastern part of the city left six civilians injured, one policeman killed, another wounded, two criminals killed and one more responsible with bullet wounds.
 
During the morning, two officers aboard a patrol observed a convoy consisting of a Ford F250 pick-up truck, a Jeep Cherokee truck and a Chevrolet Blazer with armed individuals parked in the middle of an overrun market installed between the colonies. Child and Ejido Rojo Gómez.
 
Before they were approached by the agents, the men fired on the police with long weapons, who repelled the aggression. At that time, the officers asked for support and when the criminals fled the site, they informed via radio that they were following the three vehicles.
 
The attackers advanced to the Hacienda de las Delicias and Las Rosas streets in the Terrazas del Valle neighborhood, where they descended from the vehicles again to continue firing. It was there that Officer César Gallardo Rodríguez was executed and his partner, Jesus Guillermo Lavenant Martínez, 48, was injured.
 
However, two criminals wearing bulletproof vests and three more men identified as Juan Luis were also killed, Enrique and Uriel were detained for the events.
 
About the facts, in a press conference offered this day, the Public Security Secretary extended his condolences to the relatives of the fallen officer, but also condemned the actions of the criminals, who shot in the midst of a large number of people.
 
Of the six collateral victims, one is 11 years old and with the exception of one person, the others were discharged yesterday with minor injuries.
 
"The criminals did not care about the lives of civilians, they fired everywhere, six injured ... it is a very unfortunate issue, we have to redouble the fight against crime, this type of events can not be left like this," said the official. municipal.
 
About the man who was deprived of freedom by the convoy, unofficial sources confirmed that he was the member of a rival gang of detainees, who were identified as members of the Sinaloa Cartel. Along with them, five caliber 223 weapons were found.
 
"Besides the deprivation of freedom of this person, surely there was another objective," said Sotomayor Amezcua.
He added "the work of the comrades of the Municipal Police was a very good reaction, unfortunately we lost the life of Officer Gallardo, but two were shot down, two more were arrested and five assault rifles were taken from the streets."
 
"We will see where the investigation takes us, under orders of who acted, who was the one who motivated them, we do not want the loss of the life of the partner to go unpunished and, in addition to the material authors, that the investigation be followed up until we reach the intellectual authors, "he declared.
 
Of the injured officer, the holder of the SSPM reported that he is out of danger after being hospitalized.
 
On this and the five most recorded attacks against policemen in the last week alone, the secretary said that in four firearms were used against the agents and two more were physical attacks.
"They have to do with the fact that the Municipal Police is the first respondent, these are issues that are part of the preventive patrol scheme. It has to do with the issue of firearms, any criminal takes firearms, is the risk facing the police and the citizens of Tijuana, "he added.
 
Sotomayor Amezcua said that it is very common for police to meet with armed criminals, but "we will continue to face them, there are 14 thousand detainees in the last two years, more than 1,800 firearms and it is part of the risk as a police officer".
 
Officer Gallardo Rodríguez joined the SSPM on September 3, 2012, his last commission was in the La Presa delegation as agent.
 
About the rest of the attacks, one arose on Monday, December 10, when officers responded to a report of gun detonations, when they reached the Mirador stream in the Hacienda Las Delicias neighborhood, they observed men shooting beer bottles.
 
When trying to address them, the men fired at the officers. Three men identified as Jesus Raymundo, Manuel Enrique and Francisco "Chavita" were arrested, two in possession of pistols and one with a long caliber 223 gun.
 
The next day, on Tuesday, December 11, policemen who were traveling on the Altiplano boulevard of the colony of the same name, ran into a Renault Logan vehicle at excessive speed, so they mark the stop, but instead of stopping, the crew increases the speed and shoots from inside the vehicle impacting the patrol. Those responsible were arrested.
 
On Wednesday, December 12, agents of the Municipal Police went to a report of people who disturbed the order in Emiliano Zapata street in the Ejido Matamoros neighborhood. Upon arrival, the subjects, who were drinking, tried to disarm the police, which led to a riot that left five policemen with injuries, including the district chief of La Presa.
 
While on Friday, December 14, in the Ejido Chilpancingo neighborhood, a man who had entered an address without authorization, upon being persecuted by the police, tried to take the weapon from one of the agents, the other officer repelled the attack and left without life the delinquent.
 
That same day, in the afternoon in the Centenario neighborhood, police reported the arrest of three men identified as Brayan Alexis, Álvaro Gabriel and Juan Ángel, the latter was injured after police shot him when the young man pointed to the police with a gun of fire.
The men were driving in a vehicle with tinted windows and tried to flee when the officers marked them with discharge. They carried with them two 40-gauge and 45-super guns, as well as 24 doses of glass.
 
"The criminal will try to achieve his goal at all costs. These criminals have no respect for human life, but in the vast majority of these armed attacks, who takes the worst part are the criminals, "said Sotomayor Amezcua on the armed confrontations between criminals and police.
 
Finally, he said "any criminal who raises the weapon, will immediately be neutralized, we will not risk the comrades of the Municipal Police and we will support them in their actions".
 
Since December 1, 2016, the date on which the current municipal administration began, six officers have been killed in the line of duty and three more in traffic accidents."

~~~~~

 I'll be back....

Caravana Migrante Updates: Zeta Reports Serious Crisis Within The Caravan - Zeta's December Stats For TIJ: As Of 12/17/18 @ 11:49am 131 People Executed - YTD Total For TIJ = 2,416 People Dead - Six Attacks On Police In TIJ In One Week

I'm still here, barely.  I had my appointment at the Sharp-Reese Steely Wound Center yesterday and had a third compression bandage (uni-boot) applied to my leg.  I have eight more appointments lined up until February, it is that bad.  I'm still on antibiotics but no pain meds, although it hurts, a complete disaster and the Doc said today, "...wow, that's some shark bite."

Meanwhile on the trip back we heard on the San Diego radio news there was a problem at the Otay Mesa POE with the migrantes but searching around I could find no news, so we'll see if anything appears later today re the situation there. Regarding the several hundreds of migrantes who have been camped out on the street (Cinco de Mayo) next to the baseball field, a new alberque has been located for them:

 - From Frontera: Please note Angeles sin Fronteras is a local pro-migante organization, completely not affiliated with Pueblos Sin Fronteras.

Nueva Alberque No Tendra Costo a la Federacion
Por, Khennia Reyes - 12/15/18 

Pasted:

"TIJUANA, Baja California (GH)
The new shelter for the Central American caravan that was left outside the Benito Juárez Sports Unit will not represent any expense for the Tijuana residents or the federal government.

This was announced by Gilberto Herrera, delegate of Morena of the Integral Development Programs, during the opening of the shelter, which will be for almost 400 migrants, including children, women and adults.

"The Tijuanenses will not cost a single peso. It is a space that was provided for one or two months as a temporary shelter in which normalizes the situation, "he reiterated.

Herrera stressed that the space was achieved by the efforts of father and activist Alejandro Solalinde Guerra and Jaime Bonilla, delegate of the federal government in Baja California.

Services
 
"Against all odds" is the name that the migrants gave to the space, which has the capacity to receive 600 people along the 3 thousand 800 square meters, where it is prohibited the consumption of drugs and alcohol.

There the Central Americans will have the service of dining room, bathrooms, showers, in addition to the attention of the immigration and health authorities.

Herrera said that the people who are currently housed in El Barretal will not have access to the new space, since the migrants want to leave them to maintain order.

In that sense, Lourdes Lizardi, activist and coordinator of the civil association Ángeles Sin Frontera, and Celio Archaga, pastor of the Christian church A Seed of Hope, of Honduras, will be in charge of the control of the shelter.

"Is not easy. There is always a huge remnant that does not want to submit and they think they are in Honduras. Here we are in Tijuana and we must learn to respect the ground directly where it opens the doors for us, "he said.

Regarding the people who are reluctant to leave 5 de Mayo Street, Gilberto Herrera said they risk being arrested for sleeping on the roads."

Video here.
~~~~~
I've noticed some US reports which have stated how horrible the conditions were at the baseball field (where the migrantes were dumped by the great revolutionaries) prior to them being moved to El Barretal which the report is saying itself is lacking medical care . Not according to El Sol:
Por, Laura Bueno Medina 
Pasted: 
" Dr. Óscar Ginera Aparicio, head of the Health Services Jurisdiction number 2, indicated that all infected patients are under surveillance; however, they can not be restricted from contact with the rest of the population.
The cases increased in the course of eight days approximately, when there were only eight cases, between adults and infants, for the prevention of this virus 34 vaccines have been applied mostly to minors.
 
However, the work with the migrant caravan by the health services has been one thousand 95 vaccines applied to more than a month of what will arrive in the city.
 
Of the total of vaccines applied, 400 biologicals are anti-influenza; 395, of tetanus; and 229, for the prevention of hepatitis B for adults.
 
Likewise, Dr. Óscar Ginera added that 27 vaccines against hepatitis B were also applied, but for infants, as well as six triple viral vaccines.
 
He specified that the attention to migrants located in "El Barretal" is continued on a permanent basis, and in the warehouse to which the Central Americans who were located in Benito Juarez moved, visits of medical services are being scheduled.
 
Finally, it was reported that, in the mobile hospital enabled from the first days of the arrival of the caravan, 94 different cases have been attended of which only 15 have merited transfer to the general hospital of the city."

~~~~~ 

 - From Zeta:

Grave Crisis en Caravana Acciones "Descabelladas"
Por, Manuel Ayala   - 12/17/2018

Pasted:

The migrant caravan is divided, it has lost strength and now it has been submerged in a deep crisis to which they have not been able to respond. Contrary to seeking alternatives, Central Americans have become vulnerable to the stalking of alleged leaders who have taken unusual actions and have tarnished the credibility of the movement. The Mexican government says it has solved the problem, while activists warn that the problems are just beginning
 
A month after the arrival of the first contingent of the migrant caravan to Tijuana, the crisis within Tijuana has generated division among Central Americans, who are taking decisions "out of context".
The request of a group of migrants to speed up the reception of asylum applications in the United States and another group that requires them to provide free transit to the neighboring country, or in their case an economic compensation of 50 thousand dollars to each of them to return to their places of origin, are examples of the "crazy" actions that have taken place.
 
 I request a blanket request, increase to 300 the daily receptions of asylum requests in San Ysidro sentry boxes.

 
This has not only startled the activists or citizens, but the US authorities themselves for the "outdated" of the matter, but because it seemed a "kind of threat" that does not fall within any of the possibilities that the government could accept at the time. headed by Donald Trump, who has shown his total rejection not only to the caravan, but to every Central American and even Mexican migrant, whom on several occasions he has labeled as "criminals", responding with a resounding "no" to his requests.

 
On the other hand, federal authorities announced that the migration crisis in Tijuana ended, and that in just five days of the new government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador it could be resolved, something that activists do not agree with, because as has been seen , the lack of knowledge and the "malleability" to which the vast majority of migrants are exposed, is causing alleged leaders to take advantage of the situation.
 
"The lack of certainty has also divided us," said Milton Hernández, a Honduran migrant who participated with the group that made the request for financial compensation, because "we are not very in agreement with other leaders."
 

EVERYONE BY THEIR SIDE; "LEADERS CONTINUE TO TAKE ADVANTAGE"


 On Tuesday, December 11, two different groups of migrants - unknown to each other - marched each on their own to the facilities of the US Consulate in Tijuana, to deliver petitions to the authority of that country.
The first group, led by the Honduran Alfonso Guerrero Ulloa, highlighted among their requests:
  1. Allow free entry to all members of the exodus to US territory
  2. Put a stop to US economic, political and military intervention in territory

  1. Central American, withdrawing the 13 military bases and all extractive companies.
  2. If they do not want the entry of migrants into the United States, take Juan Orlando Hernández out of Honduras and give them 50,000 dollars so that each of the migrants can return to their countries.
The second group, headed by Irineo Mujica, of Pueblos Sin Fronteras, only requested an immediate increase in the number of asylum seekers processed to at least 300 people a day and through the San Ysidro sentry boxes, measured on the basis that only about 50 are received. up to date.
 
Situations both that caused confusions between one and another groups; The first was made known thanks to a Change.org petition, which the alleged leader Guerrero Ulloa does not belong to the migrant caravan and has at least 30 years out of his country, due to an accusation of terrorism in 1987.
 

The petition mentions that Alfonso Guerrero Ulloa was "falsely" accused of being a material actor in an attack that took place at the China Palace restaurant in the city of Comayagua, Honduras, where six Marines from the Palmerola Military Base were injured.
 
"It took me into exile, they are already 30 years away from my homeland and family, living miserably. I believe I have the right to fair compensation and my return to my country, "says the accused.
 
Migrants consulted said they did not know anything about that situation and trusted that their new leader would take them forward "as others have not," said Jorge Yamil, who participated in the march.
 
THEY DISCONNECT BETWEEN GROUPS
 
Xóchitl Castillo, originally from Nicaragua and a member of the group led by Pueblos Sin Fronteras, did not know the group that made the request of 50 thousand dollars for each of them and even claimed to have no idea why or how such a group emerged, in the understanding that they are part of an exodus and the requests are made together.
 
He clarified that all they want is to "expedite the procedures", but when asked if there is a division within the caravan, regarding the different leaders that have been emerging, he did not answer, because "here we are an exodus and I do not really know what is happening, we just like you are surprised at that. "
 
For José María García Lara, director of the Youth Hostel 2000 and coordinator of the Migrant Alliance, this is part of the division that has been generated within the caravan due to the crisis in which migrants are taking into account.
 
For several weeks, inside the lodge enabled in the El Barretal property, the Central Americans have been dividing by "department", that is, the Hondurans by regions of origin; Salvadorans, Nicaraguans and Guatemalans, being minority, also grouped together.
 

This began to be carried out in a strategic way to request groceries in the shelter, but little by little they have gained a sense of organization thanks to the fact that in them the alleged leaders have seen spaces to "malign them".
 
"This does not add more than a little more to the bad image that the caravan that has been asking for asylum already has; asking for money is very unfortunate, because they deteriorate the image of people who are asking for asylum and want to enter the United States in a good way, "said the activist.

FEDERATION MINIMIZES THE CRISIS; US DENIES FREE ENTRY AND INDEMNIFICATION
 
A day after these "crazy" measures were presented, the new Interior Minister, Olga Sánchez Cordero, shared that the current government had resolved in just five days the humanitarian crisis of the migrant caravan in the shelters of the city.
 
The federal official noted via Twitter : "In 5 days we have resolved the migration crisis that was in Tijuana, Baja California. We install health centers, dining rooms, bedrooms and children's activities. "
Statements with which activists were not totally in agreement, because although they recognize that control has already been maintained and the situation is calmer, the problem at the border persists and "there is still a lot of work to be done".
 
José María García Lara is one of those who recognizes that things go "on the right track", but disagrees in the sense that persists the problem about the insertion of people to jobs, active working life and the community itself.
 
Added to that there is a group of 400 migrants who subsist outside of the "Benito Juárez" Sports Unit in the open and without attention, waiting for a resolution on their cases, so it is important to focus on what they will do with them, since there is Complete families with women and children.
 
During a visit to Tijuana on Saturday, December 8, the priest and activist Alejandro Solalinde offered to be an intermediary in the work of convincing this contingent, so that he can move to Barretal and other hostels, but it would have to be the authority that allows those actions, of which no response has been given.
 
At the close of this edition, it was reported that a winery a few meters from the camp would be able to house the 550 migrants who remained on the street."

* Note in Zeta's report, Pueblos Sin Fronteras are mentioned as bearers of part of the rental of the new alberque - neither Frontera or El Sol has mentioned this...and this information is from "activists". Frontera names Los Angeles de Frontera as part of the directorship of this new care center - so maybe there is a misprint in Zeta's article.  Unless there has been a truce between Pueblos Sin Fronteras and Padre Solalinde, but I think we would have heard a lot about that and we have not.
 
Municipality lied about the number of migrants in the city: Bonilla
 
  Jaime Bonilla, current state delegate of the Government of Mexico and who served as head of the Commission on Border and Migratory Affairs of the Senate of the Republic, said that it was a lie of the municipal authorities to have said that it was 12 thousand and then 9 thousand migrants who would arrive in Tijuana, since "there has never been that amount".
 
In a press conference, he affirmed that the numbers of the total of migrants "have been exaggerated", and that of the 100 million pesos that the mayor Juan Manuel Gastélum asked to attend such a large number of people, "it is an outrage, they are going to deliver, "at least not for that matter," much less if we are seeing the alchemy that is thrown up here and that resources disappear, because less will be given to it, "Bonilla reiterated.
 
As a Federation, the issue will be addressed, so now the Government of Mexico has a control and they are really seeing the numbers, which they estimated at around 4,100 migrants in Baja California.
According to Jaime Bonilla, the lie of the local authorities generated "much panic" among the citizens, but in reality "there have not been as many" migrants as was mentioned from the beginning.
 
"Yes there were conflicts, but we can not say as the mayor said, it was not possible for a Honduran to have murdered a Haitian, when he has two thousand and a fraction of murders and has never made that expression; you can not exaggerate an incident to point out a Honduran, when here we have thousands of deaths every day, "said Moreno.
 
As the first authority, "it is not valid" to take that position because it is "discriminating, it is arrogant in many ways, but at the end of the day it is not correct (...) the municipal presidency has lost a lot of credibility, has invented many lies," he concluded.
 
According to information from activists, the rent of the place will be borne by Pueblos sin Fronteras, Father Alejandro Solalinde and the Government of Mexico, through Jaime Bonilla.
 
In that sense, he considered "totally good" that in legal terms the situation has been resolved, but it is still necessary to see how they will be integrated into the Tijuana community, in the case of those who decide to stay in Mexico, taking into account that The United States responded with a strong "no" to the requests of the migrants.


Through a statement, Katie Waldman, spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS, for its acronym in English), shared that it will not be possible to accept the requirement that the American Union pay 50 thousand dollars for migrants to return to your country of origin.
As secretary Kirstjen Michele Nielsen has repeatedly stated, "being a member of a caravan does not grant special rights to enter this country," in addition, that the vast majority of members "are not legitimate asylum seekers," and if they were, they would seek refuge in the first safe country they entered.
 
"However, as expected, they rejected the generous offer of Mexico in search of economic opportunities or family reunification in the United States. Economic opportunity or family reincorporation is not a basis for asylum under any system, "he said.
  • Finally, he shared that it seems that some of the migrants have understood this situation and the commitment of the Donald Trump administration to "enforce the rule of law", which means a strong message that "they must return home." 
 
* Note:  From the same Zeta article, but this is not what I have been reading from some US reports (and you have to wonder if they are promoters for the NGO's. ) These reports from the US are saying there is no work available for the migrantes in Tijuana, that they can find nothing, they cannot find a job no matter how hard they try.  A different story from Zeta: 


Hondurans are opting for humanitarian visas
 
  Alden Rivera, Ambassador of Honduras in Mexico, highlighted that in Tijuana, more than 1,200 people from that country are already applying to obtain a humanitarian visa, in order to work; or, they already have a job in the city.
 
Thousand 500 people have registered in the book to apply for asylum in the United States, but there are still 800 people who do not make a decision regarding asylum in Mexico or the United States.
 
According to information from Manuel Marín, subdelegate of the National Institute of Migration, to date more than 700 voluntary returns have been submitted to their countries of origin, in addition to 300 assisted returns, for reasons that some authority made them available to the Institute. for having broken the Law.
 
Added to this, there have been 2,500 procedures for humanitarian visas and 25 requests for refuge of people held at the migrant station in Tijuana.
 
From November 12 to date, more than 3,000 Central Americans have surrendered by skipping the border fence, reported the United States Border Patrol."

~~~~~ 

Then of course there is always the drug war, here are the latest stats for Tijuana from Zeta:

22 Ejecutados En 48 Horas, En Tijuana 

Pasted:


"In the last 48 hours in Tijuana, 22 people have been deprived of life in different events, so the number of intentional homicides amounts to 131 victims so far in December.
 
The morning of Saturday, December 15, in a vacant lot located on the Xicoténcatl avenue of the Camino Verde colony, Delegación Sánchez Taboada, was found a lifeless male with puncturing injuries.
 
Then a human body wrapped in a white blanket was found in the street Colorines of the Jardines de la Mesa colony, in the Los Pinos subdelegation.
 
In the Santiago alley of the Buena Vista neighborhood, the corpse of a man wrapped in a blue canvas was found. The victim had injuries by firearm. Next to the body was a white cardboard with a legend, which until now is unknown.
 
Alexis Rodolfo de La Cruz Castro died in the General Hospital, after being shot.
 
On the dirt road of the Federal Electricity Commission in the Lomas de Matamoros neighborhood, human remains were found.
 
Inside the canalization of the Tijuana River in the Center area was reported the corpse of a male with puncturing injuries.
 
Two men were located without life inside an address on Bahía Magdalena street in Colonia Ejido Francisco Villa. The victims had injuries caused by firearms.
 
The corpses of two men were found in the Quintana Roo alley of the Central Zone. One of them died from strangulation and the other from puncture injuries.
 
With gunshot wounds in the neck, the corpse of a male person was located on Avenida de las Américas in the El Laurel subdivision.
 
A body wrapped in plastic and cinnamon-colored adhesive tape in the cephalic region was located on a neighborhood road near a maquiladora in the Rural Dam delegation.
 
Yesterday, Sunday December 16, nine people were killed in different points: first a double shooting was recorded in Privada Dalia in the San Pedro Valley subdivision. One of the victims was identified as José Guadalupe Sánchez Pasillas, 45, the other remains as a stranger.
 
Later, a man without life was located in a neighborhood road to the Laurel subdivision of the second section, in the Rural Dam Delegation. The cause of death is still unknown.
 
Later on the old road to Tecate in the colony Ejido Rojo Gómez, in the Rural Reservoir, a shootout broke out between a group of delinquents and municipal police, leaving as a result a dead agent identified as César Gallardo Rodríguez and two alleged dead hit men.

The burnt corpse of a stranger was located in a neighborhood road in the Palma Real subdivision
 
Juan Antonio Peraza Guardado died in the General Hospital after the injuries caused by a firearm projectile.
 
A stranger was shot dead when he was on Avenida Benito Juarez in Colonia Centro.
 
Finally, on the morning of this Monday, December 17, a severed human head was located inside the Tijuana River Canalization, and meters away on the East Fast Track, at the height of the Guadalupe Victoria colony, the decapitated body was found.
 
So far this year in Tijuana have been killed 2 thousand 416 people."

~~~~~

Zeta adds this report on the six police attacked en Tijuana in one weeks time:

Seis ataques a Policias de Tijuana En Una Semana
Por, Ines Garcia Ramos 

Pasted:

" Agents of the Municipal Police of Tijuana have suffered six attacks, four of them armed, from Monday 10 to Sunday 16 December. In one case, one policeman was killed and another was shot, while in a field fight a district chief was hit with a severe blow to the head.
 
For the head of the Municipal Public Security Secretariat (SSPM), Marco Antonio Sotomayor Amezcua, these attacks are not direct attacks, but the reactions of the criminals in routine interventions carried out by the police.
 
In the most recent case, which occurred on Sunday, a clash between police and a group of armed men who had deprived a man of freedom in the eastern part of the city left six civilians injured, one policeman killed, another wounded, two criminals killed and one more responsible with bullet wounds.
 
During the morning, two officers aboard a patrol observed a convoy consisting of a Ford F250 pick-up truck, a Jeep Cherokee truck and a Chevrolet Blazer with armed individuals parked in the middle of an overrun market installed between the colonies. Child and Ejido Rojo Gómez.
 
Before they were approached by the agents, the men fired on the police with long weapons, who repelled the aggression. At that time, the officers asked for support and when the criminals fled the site, they informed via radio that they were following the three vehicles.
 
The attackers advanced to the Hacienda de las Delicias and Las Rosas streets in the Terrazas del Valle neighborhood, where they descended from the vehicles again to continue firing. It was there that Officer César Gallardo Rodríguez was executed and his partner, Jesus Guillermo Lavenant Martínez, 48, was injured.
 
However, two criminals wearing bulletproof vests and three more men identified as Juan Luis were also killed, Enrique and Uriel were detained for the events.
 
About the facts, in a press conference offered this day, the Public Security Secretary extended his condolences to the relatives of the fallen officer, but also condemned the actions of the criminals, who shot in the midst of a large number of people.
 
Of the six collateral victims, one is 11 years old and with the exception of one person, the others were discharged yesterday with minor injuries.
 
"The criminals did not care about the lives of civilians, they fired everywhere, six injured ... it is a very unfortunate issue, we have to redouble the fight against crime, this type of events can not be left like this," said the official. municipal.
 
About the man who was deprived of freedom by the convoy, unofficial sources confirmed that he was the member of a rival gang of detainees, who were identified as members of the Sinaloa Cartel. Along with them, five caliber 223 weapons were found.
 
"Besides the deprivation of freedom of this person, surely there was another objective," said Sotomayor Amezcua.
He added "the work of the comrades of the Municipal Police was a very good reaction, unfortunately we lost the life of Officer Gallardo, but two were shot down, two more were arrested and five assault rifles were taken from the streets."
 
"We will see where the investigation takes us, under orders of who acted, who was the one who motivated them, we do not want the loss of the life of the partner to go unpunished and, in addition to the material authors, that the investigation be followed up until we reach the intellectual authors, "he declared.
 
Of the injured officer, the holder of the SSPM reported that he is out of danger after being hospitalized.
 
On this and the five most recorded attacks against policemen in the last week alone, the secretary said that in four firearms were used against the agents and two more were physical attacks.
"They have to do with the fact that the Municipal Police is the first respondent, these are issues that are part of the preventive patrol scheme. It has to do with the issue of firearms, any criminal takes firearms, is the risk facing the police and the citizens of Tijuana, "he added.
 
Sotomayor Amezcua said that it is very common for police to meet with armed criminals, but "we will continue to face them, there are 14 thousand detainees in the last two years, more than 1,800 firearms and it is part of the risk as a police officer".
 
Officer Gallardo Rodríguez joined the SSPM on September 3, 2012, his last commission was in the La Presa delegation as agent.
 
About the rest of the attacks, one arose on Monday, December 10, when officers responded to a report of gun detonations, when they reached the Mirador stream in the Hacienda Las Delicias neighborhood, they observed men shooting beer bottles.
 
When trying to address them, the men fired at the officers. Three men identified as Jesus Raymundo, Manuel Enrique and Francisco "Chavita" were arrested, two in possession of pistols and one with a long caliber 223 gun.
 
The next day, on Tuesday, December 11, policemen who were traveling on the Altiplano boulevard of the colony of the same name, ran into a Renault Logan vehicle at excessive speed, so they mark the stop, but instead of stopping, the crew increases the speed and shoots from inside the vehicle impacting the patrol. Those responsible were arrested.
 
On Wednesday, December 12, agents of the Municipal Police went to a report of people who disturbed the order in Emiliano Zapata street in the Ejido Matamoros neighborhood. Upon arrival, the subjects, who were drinking, tried to disarm the police, which led to a riot that left five policemen with injuries, including the district chief of La Presa.
 
While on Friday, December 14, in the Ejido Chilpancingo neighborhood, a man who had entered an address without authorization, upon being persecuted by the police, tried to take the weapon from one of the agents, the other officer repelled the attack and left without life the delinquent.
 
That same day, in the afternoon in the Centenario neighborhood, police reported the arrest of three men identified as Brayan Alexis, Álvaro Gabriel and Juan Ángel, the latter was injured after police shot him when the young man pointed to the police with a gun of fire.
The men were driving in a vehicle with tinted windows and tried to flee when the officers marked them with discharge. They carried with them two 40-gauge and 45-super guns, as well as 24 doses of glass.
 
"The criminal will try to achieve his goal at all costs. These criminals have no respect for human life, but in the vast majority of these armed attacks, who takes the worst part are the criminals, "said Sotomayor Amezcua on the armed confrontations between criminals and police.
 
Finally, he said "any criminal who raises the weapon, will immediately be neutralized, we will not risk the comrades of the Municipal Police and we will support them in their actions".
 
Since December 1, 2016, the date on which the current municipal administration began, six officers have been killed in the line of duty and three more in traffic accidents."

~~~~~

 I'll be back....

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Updates Caravana Migrantes: The Marches On Both Sides Of The Border And A Perspective From Zeta On The Status Of The Caravana

Sorry I am late.  The civil war surgery on my leg turned south, we had to return to the hospital today because my foot and calf were both swollen like watermelons and I still couldn't walk.  Turns out there is an infection and I have to go back again tomorrow to be fitted for something called a uni-boot and then again on Friday for a re-check; the only good thing was that Paris was dropped off at Pet-Co for a bathers, but everything else is a disaster.

If you have been following the links since the last blog you might have thought - like me - that there seemed to be some positive changes since a large measure (over 2,000)of the migrantes were moved to El Barretal.  Even though it isn't the Ritz, at least the migrantes were out of the freezing inclement weather.  One civilian volunteer group, World Central Kitchen has set up kitchens and  have been working around the clock preparing decent food for them, the Marinos were back in action with their food stations, some migrantes have set up kitchens themselves and some of these said they wanted to stay in TIJ and open up diners, the city was providing Nurses and Doctors to treat the rash of illnesses which had broken out, showers and latrines have been provided offering more privacy, AMLO has offered them jobs here in Tijuana and other parts of Mexico, stations were created to at least start their paperwork process by the Mexican government, Padre Solalinde was in town and still is working the crowds (and trying to persuade those still camped out by the baseball field and the PRI building to move over to Barretal and encouraging local authorities to be honest with the migrantes, and hundreds of Tijuana and US citizens have been showing up with much needed supplies.

Still, what we are hearing is that many hundreds of the migrantes refuse to go to Barretal which is not good news because health rules prohibit them from camping out on the streets and they have to move, the US is moving too slow on the asylum requests, some people are wondering what happened to the reported 3,000 migrantes reported unaccounted for (or if in fact there really are that many unaccounted for), the food lines are long and everyone is wondering will any of them receive asylum - if so, will they be held or are we back to catch and release?

The Marches:

December 10, 2018

 - From Zeta: see report for pics.

Lideres Religiosos Protestan En La Frontera Contra El Gobierno de EU Por No Recibir Solicitudes de Asilo a Migrantes 
Por, Manuel Ayala 

Pasted:

"Hundreds of pro-immigrant activists and religious leaders demonstrated this afternoon at the border between San Diego and Tijuana, to set   his displeasure towards the migratory policies of the United States that at the moment has been denying the requests of asylum of the Central American migrants that from the past 11 November arrived at this city.
 
On the US side, the religious leaders conducted a peaceful walk of "civil disobedience", as well as discontent with the treatment they have given to the migrants themselves and the ways in which they were received with gas bombs and rubber bullets, in addition to the null speed to attend their cases.
The walk arrived to the wall adjacent to Playas de Tijuana, where a barricade of elements of the US Border Patrol stopped them, so they would not get close to the border, where on the Mexican side they were also expected by religious leaders and activists who work in Tijuana.

In their attempt to get close to the wall, several of the activists on the US side were stopped by the Border Patrol, who were loaded into trucks and taken with authority.
 
Father Patricio Murphy, director of the Casa del Migrante in Tijuana, said that more than 400 religious leaders participated in this demonstration to show solidarity with migrants on this side.
A demonstration on the occasion of Human Rights Day to carry out a moment of prayer for all the members of the migrant caravan.
 
"It is also a way to push the government, to awaken it with these images so that it looks for other solutions so that people can enter faster because 40 or 50 per day is nothing and the people who are here are going to last for months in a hostel that is not very worthy for children and women, "he said.
 
For her part, Mary Galván, social worker of the Madre Asunta Institute, said that as associations in Tijuana their participation was in solidarity with these leaders because part of their work is also to sensitize a part of the American community that "does not want to understand yet" the migrant situation.
 
 "(They come) to tell the United States that what they are doing is wrong, that a lot of the people who are on the move and trying to reach the neighboring country, are because they have a great need to seek a better living condition."
 
Finally he said that this was only a sample between groups on both sides of the border that "we are not alone", because on both sides "there are still good people who believe in God's love" and so they will always be manifesting.
 
~~~~~~

December 11, 2018:

From Zeta: 

Marchan Grupos Migrantes Para Pedir al Gobierno de EU Mayor Celeridad En Recepcion de Solicitudes de Asilo
Por, Manuel  Ayala 

Pasted:

"In two different marches carried out this morning and afternoon in Tijuana, groups of migrants and activists requested the United States Consulate in the city, to speed up the reception of asylum applications from Central American migrants.
 
Considering that the great majority are families with children and women, the first group of approximately 150 Honduran migrants left the shelter of El Barretal in the morning, in the direction of the US consulate, where they delivered a request list with three highlights:
 
1.- Free entry to all members of the Central American exodus.
 
2.- That the United States take away the 12 military bases they have in Honduras and that is what causes so much violence in the country.
 
3 .- That if they do not want to let them in, they compensate them with a payment of 50 thousand dollars to each one of the migrants, so that they can return to their countries.

 

This group of migrants put the Consulate within 72 hours to receive a response, which, according to spokesperson Alfonso Guerrero Ulloa, is expected to be "positive" mainly with the granting of asylum; After presenting the document, the group of migrants returned to the shelter.
 
Later, another group of migrants, together with Pueblos Sin Fronteras activists, gathered at the facilities of the National Migration Institute (INM), to request information about the deportations they have made to members of the caravan and other legal aspects.
 
Xóchitl Castillo, originally from Nicaragua, shared that the sub-delegate of that institution, Manuel Marín, provided them with figures that to date had more than 700 voluntary returns, 300 returns assisted or deported because they were made available by some authority.
 
In addition, 25 asylum seekers are detained in the immigration station in Tijuana, by those who requested their immediate release and those who let them know that a mechanism is established not to deport people who are waiting to seek asylum in the neighboring country.
 
Subsequently, the contingent also traveled to the US Consulate in Tijuana, where they entered to present also a request list in which the only precision is to speed up asylum applications and that of 50 they are receiving daily , receive at least 300 a day in the San Ysidro sentry boxes.
 
Alex Martinez, a Honduran migrant, reported that this march was mainly due to a way to close the hunger strike that they held near El Chaparral facilities for 14 days.
 
The Hunger Strike with which they also asked for the asylum process to be expedited and for the Federal Police not to collaborate with the INM in order to stop and subsequently deport the migrants."
 
~~~~~~

From Zeta:An Interesting Perspective
Por, Manuel Ayala 
Pasted:
"The rejection of the United States, the aggressions of a sector of the Tijuana society, the uncertainty, the bad conditions of the shelters, deficient distribution of provisions and even the inclemency of the climate, are some of the factors that have caused the migrant caravan to have lost strength as a group and now is segregating. Activists and researchers agree that much of it is because the authorities do not want to have them in Tijuana.
  The rejection of a sector of the Tijuana society, the bad conditions of the first shelter, the distance from the second, the recurrent criminalization and sectorization of the municipal authorities and the State, have generated a dispersion of the migrant caravan throughout the city.
 
"It has lost its essence, it has been taken away," said the migrant named Milson Martínez.
Some are separating themselves from the rest to stay close to the sentry boxes, others have looked for places to rent or work with their families, some more are waiting to ask for asylum in the neighboring country, others are jumping the wall and the least have asked to be returned to their places of origin.


"We are not staying other than to look on our own, the strength of the caravan is over. We must think of ourselves, of those who have children, to know well what we are going to decide now, because we already see that it will not be possible in a group and that the authorities in Tijuana do not like us very much, "shared the young Honduran.

 
To all this, the rainy season has started in Tijuana with its freezing temperatures, climatic conditions that still have not become accustomed and that have aggravated the health of many migrants.
 
The donations that are coming from civil society are retained at the entrance of El Barretal, where there are only 2,122 members of the more than 6,700 that had been counted by the Municipality in the Sports Unit "Benito Juárez". And they are not distributed in the best way.
The remoteness of workplaces or the El Chaparral Garita, where they have to be constantly going to know their turn to apply for asylum to the US government, are factors that some activists have considered strategic to contribute to the dissolution of the caravan and the persuasion that they desist from their path to the American Union.
 
"They do not want them in Tijuana either," said Soraya Vázquez, coordinator of the Strategic Committee for Humanitarian Aid (CEAH), who considers the attitude of the authority to be "perverse, in the sense of generating the worst conditions (for migrants) just to achieve that the majority left the city, regardless of the risks to their safety and physical integrity, what to say about violations of due process, as well as each and every one of their human rights. "

MISSING IN THE CARAVAN
 
The overcrowding in the shelter of the "Benito Juárez" Sports Unit, in the Northern Zone, and the unhealthy conditions generated by the rain that fell on Thursday, November 29 in the city, exceeded the attention capacities of the municipal and state authorities, propitiating a lack of control and chaos in the organization of the caravan itself.

In a hasty manner and without any protocol, between the afternoon and night of that day the authorities began to move the migrants to a new space in El Barretal, a former entertainment center of the Mariano Matamoros neighborhood in the Eastern Zone, which  did not have electricity or sanitation services.
 
The sudden displacement generated uncertainty and fear among the members of the caravan, who spread the rumor that they would be moved out of the city, or to the immigration offices to be deported immediately.
 
This caused fear among the migrants, some of whom refused to move. The sports unit was completely closed on Saturday, December 1 and an approximate of 700 occupants decided to camp on the street where the one that was their shelter was located.
 
On Sunday, December 2, the municipal authorities only accounted for 2,122 migrants in El Barretal, out of the more than 6,700 migrants who had joined before the transfer.
Mario Osuna Giménez, secretary of Municipal Social Development, said that the whereabouts of around 3,000 migrants are unknown.
 
Additionally, in his weekly report, on December 3, the Secretary of Municipal Public Security of Tijuana, Marco Antonio Sotomayor, referred to another 144 migrants located in different shelters of civil society, and the shortage of 3 thousand Central Americans.
 
Both officials agreed that they ended up leaving on their own to ask for assisted returns, to go and take shelter with a family member, seek asylum in the United States, those who have been jumping over the wall to surrender to the US authorities , or those who simply decided to stay in the city or any other part of the region.
 
"We know that suddenly some ventured to throw themselves on the wall, others maybe they went back, but I do not think so many have done it, that's why it generates uncertainty, because it may be that.
 
Housewives and peasants, most of the members of the migrant caravan


A diagnosis made by researchers from El Colegio de la Frontera Norte (El Colef) showed that the vast majority of the people who make up the migrant caravan said they dedicate themselves to agriculture and livestock in the case of men; and in that of women, at home or as domestic workers.
 
Another of the results that were shared on Tuesday, December 4, at the facilities of this institution, was that most of the respondents have on average between 18 and 29 years of age, and have only completed the primary level, although some of them have with doctorates.
 
On their expectations, the survey that was conducted while the migrants were in the "Benito Juárez" Sports Unit, showed that the vast majority wanted to cross to the United States by any means, others to request asylum through legal channels and a small part to stay in Tijuana.
81 percent comes from Honduras, 9% from El Salvador and 8% from Guatemala; the vast majority comes with one or up to four relatives, mainly women with children, and another large percentage are men who come alone.
 
WAYS TO DISPERSE THE CARAVAN; THEY WILL SEARCH FOR CROSSING BY DESERT AND MOUNTAINS
 
Activists and specialists consulted by ZETA , agree that moving and moving migrants away from the city center, from the sentry boxes and the crossing area to the United States, was a way to contribute to the dispersion of the caravan itself, to reduce its force through uncertainty and fear of what might happen.
 

The fact that there are also 3,000 unlocated migrants is attributed to a form of speculation among the members of the caravan, so they can take immediate measures such as voluntarily surrendering or leaving the country.
 
Soraya Vázquez, of the Strategic Committee, believes that to square the numbers that had been mentioned, "the key" is to know the real and objective figure of the total number of people who were housed in the "Benito Juárez" Sports Unit, which has not been done public authority, hence "the suspicion that the figures were inflated for the City to victimize even more, and to obtain more resources."
 
Option that other activists who reserved their name seconded, who argued that from the beginning it was impossible that in a space such as the sports unit could concentrate more than 6 thousand people, and even less "credible", that now be almost 3 thousand that are "disappeared", since there is something that "does not fit.
 
Guillermo Alonso, researcher at El Colegio de la Frontera Norte (El Colef), specialized in clandestine border crossing, said in an interview that, considering that this is a population that does not have money to pay for " polleros ", it is more likely that that flow that is not localized are young "able to cross the walls and walk the hills".
 

"They were not going to stay in El Barretal with their arms crossed, waiting for their turn to come; they will not be where the authorities want either, they did not walk more than 4 thousand kilometers to be asking for asylum, when every day the only signal they give is that they will be given if they do it for good (...) Most are scattered, hidden, planning how to cross to the other side ".
 
Caravan figures
 
* More than 5,000 migrants who arrived before the caravan and those who are now on the waiting list to apply for political asylum in the United States
 
* More than 600 have been repatriated voluntarily to their countries of origin
 
* Around 2 thousand 500 have been linked labor to companies of various sectors of the State
 
* More than 300 have been delivered to US immigration authorities, jumping the wall
 
"We do not want to stay in Mexico, we fear for our lives"
 
  Yanired Hernández, originally from Sonsonate, El Salvador, is the migrant woman who, at approximately 4:30 in the afternoon of November 30, was run down along with her cousin Nelson Armando -who died at the time- one block from El Barretal , where it is currently housed.
 
She is one of the people who is already "terrified" by all the situations that "unfortunately" she has had to live throughout her journey in Mexico and wants to leave as soon as possible the country in which, also highlights, she has touched " too many good people "that has also helped him along the way.
 
Together with her husband Carlos Hernández, her cousin and two friends, they left their country of their own free will and after joining the caravan in Huixtla, Chiapas, from there they began their group journey "without any problem", a path in which they recognize Many Mexicans helped them with food, drink and clothes.
 
They arrived at the shelter installed in the "Benito Juárez" Sports Unit, from where they had to leave almost fleeing the day the rain fell, as they lost everything due to weather conditions and left for El Barretal, where their "odyssey" began.
 
Arriving at the site they found out that one of the friends who were accompanying them, named Lázaro Daniel, was one of the migrants who died in the repair work of a rainwater network in Antonio Nava street in Acatlán of the Mariano Matamoros Norte neighborhood, Wednesday, November 28.
 
He explained that he had already found work in the contractor company Pacific Specialized Constructions, who were in charge of carrying out the work, and his desire was to stay in Tijuana to make his life here.
 
On several occasions, the leaders of the caravan were informing them that there were threats that armed groups would "shoot" those who remained in the Northern Zone, so they chose to stay in El Barretal.
 
But on Friday, November 30, when they returned from having gone to eat near the shelter, a drunken person who was on board their van ran over them, she was caught by her husband's jacket and only received a blow to the hip. who sent her against the wall, resulting in a wound on her head.
 
However, his cousin died instantly, which caused him "a very great pain" that has caused him "fear and terror" to continue in the city, he does not even want to stay in Mexico and is waiting for his turn to request the asylum, the one who waits for him to be granted because they left their country after the death threats and an attempt of homicide on the part of the Mara Salvatrucha towards her husband.
 
On his medical expenses, a private doctor from the Mariano Matamoros colony daily attends to follow up, Grupo Beta provided the first medications and a US association has been providing him with the other medications he requires.
 
On the body of his cousin, the Consulate of El Salvador, in coordination with his relatives, are taking charge of the transfer, which will take place in coming days to his homeland.
 
"My dream was to get to the United States to get my two children forward, we wanted to improve ourselves as people, work and make you want, at some point we thought about staying in Tijuana, I had plans to stay here, I had job offers and I had asked the humanitarian visa. We were happy that we were going to work together, but with this that happened to me, I definitely do not stay here; I fear for my life, I am afraid, "concluded the lady."

~~~~~~















 :

"
Executions continue....at a high rate....
 ~~~~~~