A month after arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border in hopes of being granted asylum in the U.S, about
Published on
Wednesday, December 12, 2018
by Common Dreams
Refused Right to Seek Asylum, Honduran Refugees Demand Reparations for Destructive US Foreign Policy in Central America
"It may seem like a lot of money to you. But it is a small sum compared to everything the United States has stolen from Honduras."
by Julia Conley, staff writer
A month after arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border in hopes of being granted asylum in the U.S, about 100 refugees from Honduras marched to the U.S. Consulate in the border city of Tijuana on Tuesday to tell officials that they will return to home—but only if the country that's refused to observe their right to asylum pays them reparations for the destruction and destabilization its foreign policy has caused in their home country and throughout Central America.
The group demanded $50,000 each from the U.S. government in return for turning back to their home country, asking the the U.S. answer its request within 72 hours. The sum would be enough, the group reasoned, for each asylum-seeker to start a small business or otherwise rebuild their life in a country where two-thirds of the population live in poverty and one in five people survive on less than $2 per day.
The letter condemned the United States' foreign policy in Honduras—including the 2009 military coup backed by the Obama administration—which has contributed to the circumstances that many are fleeing now.
"We remind you that if the U.S. does not want more migration, it should put a stop to the economic, political, and military intervention in our territory," wrote the asylum-seekers in the letter, which Common Dreams obtained. "Therefore, we ask you to take away your 13 military bases and all their extractive companies that offend and loot our native land."
More:
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/12/12/refused-right-seek-asylum-honduran-refugees-demand-reparations-destructive-us