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US: Thousands of Latin American Immigrants Among Katrina's Victims
By Diego Cevallos
MEXICO CITY, Sep 5, 2005 (IPS) - Thousands of Latin American immigrants are among
those left homeless by Hurricane Katrina in the southern United States, and at least
three have died. But although governments and social organisations from the
region have offered help, they have run into restrictions set by Washington.
Consular authorities from Latin American countries estimate that around
300,000 people from Mexico, Central America and several South American
nations live in the area affected by last week's hurricane and the
consequent flooding, which left millions of people with nothing but the
clothes on their backs.
"It is very difficult for us to find and identify the Latin American
victims, and to reach them with assistance. Furthermore, the U.S. State
Department has so far placed restrictions on the efforts that we could
make," Honduras' ambassador to the United States, Norman García, told IPS.
According to García, some 140,000 people from Honduras and their descendants
were living in the greater New Orleans area alone, one of the hardest-hit
areas. Nearly all of them were left homeless and without a job, including
the staff of the Honduran consulate in that city.
García lamented that the offers of food and medical aid and logistical
support made by governments in Latin America and the Caribbean have been
turned down by the U.S. government. "For now, the government in Washington
is only allowing monetary donations, through the Red Cross," he said in a
telephone interview from Washington, D.C.
It will take years for the Gulf Coast region to recover from the damages
wrought by Katrina on Aug. 29, said President George W. Bush. Some estimates
put the number of dead at 10,000.
The Mexican government reported that around 100,000 Mexican citizens are
among those affected by the hurricane, whose winds and rain devastated a
large part of the states of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.
Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Derbez, who said Monday that the deaths of
three Mexicans have been reported so far, will visit the Gulf Coast region
within the next few days along with other Mexican officials to assess the
best way to provide assistance.
Consular authorities from Honduras, Nicaragua, Peru and El Salvador have
gone to the outskirts of the affected areas, and to storm shelters, while
setting up special hot-lines to offer help to those in need.
"But the consulates cannot operate as they would wish in the area, because
the State Department is not allowing us to," said Ambassador García. His
government sent presidential commissioner René Becerra to work directly with
the victims in the United States.
"So far, we have information on 300 Hondurans who have been left homeless,
but who are safe. But we don't know anything more than that, nor do we have
reports on how many Hondurans might have died, because we have not been
allowed access to the lists that the U.S. government is drawing up," the
ambassador added.
Washington accepted the aid offered by Mexico, which will send a team of
doctors, rescue workers and members of the military to the affected areas,
the government of President Vicente Fox announced Monday.
Brazil, Cuba, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama and Venezuela have also offered
assistance, including doctors, medicine, rescue equipment and food, but the
U.S. government has not yet responded.
Carlos Avila, an official at the Central American Bank for Economic
Integration (BCIE), told IPS from his offices in Honduras that the regional
institution is designing a project for the provision of assistance to
Central American victims of the storm.
"In Central America, we have experience from Hurricane Mitch, in 1998, and
we know that for the victims, a difficult process of reinsertion into normal
life comes after the initial impact, because many have lost everything they
had, including their jobs, and young people have been left out of school,"
he said.
The project, which is still being drafted, is aimed at coordinating with the
U.S. government a plan to provide comprehensive support for the victims of
the hurricane. "The idea is to find a way for them to be reinserted into
society," said Avila.
The BCIE is comprised of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and
Nicaragua. Its associate members are Argentina, China, Colombia, Mexico and
Spain.
The regional bank finances and coordinates reconstruction efforts when
Central America is hit by natural catastrophes.
Central America indeed has experience in hurricanes. In 1998, Hurricane
Mitch left more than 7,000 dead in Honduras and 3,000 in Nicaragua, while
causing economic losses of nearly 4.8 billion dollars.
García said Hurricane Katrina has led to "an extraordinary mobilisation of
the Latino community." Consulates from several Latin American countries and
organisations that work with immigrants have pooled their efforts to
identify victims from the region, he explained.
But the challenge is huge, because many of the victims are undocumented
migrants and have avoided going to shelters to seek help, said Carlos
Gonzáles, Mexico's consul in Houston, Texas, where tens of thousands of
storm refugees have fled.
"Undocumented migrants live in a state of terror, and some believe they will
be seized and deported," said the official.
According to the last U.S. census, 39.9 million people of Latin American
origin or descent - most of them Mexicans - live in the United States, a
country of 290.8 million people. Of those nearly 40 million, around five
million are living in the country without legal documents. (END)
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