As Migrants March to the U.S.:

STOP: The demonization, criminalization and deportations of immigrants and the militarization of the border

October 22, 2018 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

On October 13, a caravan of some 600 migrants left Honduras determined to make their way to the U.S.-Mexico border to apply for asylum. As they trekked through Guatemala and reached the Mexican border six days later, their numbers had grown to an estimated 5,000, mainly from Honduras, with entire neighborhoods joining, according to some of the migrants. 

Men and women, youth, families, mothers carrying infant children, all were determined to escape the hell that’s Honduras. A 16-year-old farmworker said, “You can’t live in Honduras. There isn’t money. There’s no help from the government. There’s nothing.” Others described relatives murdered or threatened by gangs or the government. None felt they had any future in Honduras. 

The refugees flooded the bridge between Guatemala and Mexico and tore down a border fence, and hundreds pushed their way into Mexico, as some 500 Mexican federal police tried to stop them with tear gas and smoke bombs. As we post this, the river of oppressed humanity, reportedly thousands strong, has regrouped and is marching north through Mexico and drawing support from people there. 

Trump is whipping up anti-immigrant hatred and fascist mobs with the Nazi lie that this courageous caravan is the work of drug and human traffickers, full of “bad hombres,” and that “millions of illegal aliens” are out “to break our laws, violate our borders and overwhelm our nation.”     

This is like a pin-hole camera with the reality projected upside down! American imperialism—under Democrats and Republicans—has violated, preyed on, terrorized, and exploited Central America since the 1800s. The U.S. military invaded Honduras seven times between 1903 and 1925 alone. It turned Honduras into a plantation for growing bananas and coffee and a sweatshop for cheap labor. It used Honduras as a base to fight dirty wars across Central America during the 1980s. In the 1990s, the U.S. seeded the rise of Central American gangs by deporting thousands of immigrant youth—many who’d gotten caught up in the gang life here—back to their home countries where there was no future for them. In 2009, the U.S. backed a military coup in Honduras, and that has escalated killing and violence to unbearable levels.   

Now these migrants have come together to escape the hell that U.S. imperialism has created. They have right on their side and must be supported! It’s Trump and the whole imperialist system that are the criminals!

 

For further background see the American Crime series and much more at revcom.us.

American Crime Case #75: Obama, Clinton and the 2009 Military Coup in Honduras

American Crime Case #79: Ronald Reagan’s Honduras—The Atrocities of “Battalion 316”

 

 

Above and below: At the Guatemala-Mexico border (Photos: AP)