Thousands of migrants cross the border between Honduras and Guatemala daily on their way to the United States, facing the threat of tropical diseases such as dengue, the arrest of security forces and their subsequent deportation or the impact of a route hit by climate change.

On the border of El Corinto, between Guatemala and Honduras, the country’s Red Cross serves migrants who need medical assistance.

“Our job is to alleviate the suffering a little and dignify the lives of people who are in transit,” explains to EFE Mariana Bonilla, who works with the Red Cross at the Care Center for Migrants and Refugees (CAPMIR), located on the Guatemalan side of the border.

Every morning, Bonilla, 31, and the rest of her team, track the border road surrounded by African palm, banana plantations and the imposing Motagua River, the largest in Guatemala, in search of groups of migrants to guide them and indicate the points where they can receive support.

Advertisement

20240506_crecerjuntos_720x90

20240426_bcr_censo_728x90

20240502_censo_jorge_728x90

20231223_factura_electronica_728x90

20231124_etesal_728x90_1

20230816_dgs_728x90

20230601_agenda_primera_infancia_728X90

CEL

CEL

SSF

SSF

SSF

Within its center of attention, supported by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), migrants receive both medical and psychosocial assistance. “Many come with traumas from their passage through the Darién jungle” between Colombia and Panama, explains Bonilla.

Two kilometers after crossing the border, on the migratory route, is the village of Jimeritos, a community made up of farmers dedicated mainly to the cultivation of bananas that for six years has turned its small communal room into a refuge for migrants to rest.

“We are motivated to work with migrants. They leave their countries to seek an improvement for their family and here we give them what we can, because we do not know when we will have the same need,” explains Felicita Palencia, a resident of Jimeritos who was trained by the Red Cross to take care of migrants.

The community lounge has a bedroom with capacity for 12 people and, according to the leaders of the village, there are nights where they receive up to 30 migrants who seek refuge before continuing their journey to the Mexican border of Tecún Umán, located about 540 kilometers at the other end of the country.

Community community members pay attention despite the difficulties they are going through, such as strong dengue epidemics that affect the department of Izabal, where in 2023 more than 500 cases were registered and the region was put on red alert by the health authorities, a disease from which migrants are not freed either.

Advertisement

20240506_crecerjuntos_720x90

20240426_bcr_censo_728x90

20240502_censo_jorge_728x90

20231223_factura_electronica_728x90

20231124_etesal_728x90_1

20230816_dgs_728x90

20230601_agenda_primera_infancia_728X90

CEL

CEL

SSF

SSF

SSF

On May 2, in the community room, the Red Cross gathered the children of the Jimeritos public primary school to give them a talk about hygiene and sanitation measures to eliminate the mosquito that transmits dengue, as well as tools to identify the symptoms of this disease.

Carlos Linares, who has lived in this migrant host village for 42 years, assures EFE that the biggest concern for them is climate change, since the rainy season is approaching and in years such as 2001 and 2020 many houses were destroyed by storms.

“This part of the road is the most difficult to get to the United States, because there are a lot of police and they can return us to Honduras,” Mario Alvarado, a Honduran migrant who decided to look for the “American dream,” explains to EFE.

With temperatures of 40 degrees, Alvarado crossed the border, bordering the Motagua River and the African palm plantations, to end up arrested by the Guatemalan authorities.

Alvarado is the third time he has been on his way to the United States. He does it with his compatriot Danny Gámez, the same one with whom a few months ago they were deported from Texas, United States, after a journey that allowed them to work in the North American nation as painters.

Advertisement

20240506_crecerjuntos_720x90

20240426_bcr_censo_728x90

20240502_censo_jorge_728x90

20231223_factura_electronica_728x90

20231124_etesal_728x90_1

20230816_dgs_728x90

20230601_agenda_primera_infancia_728X90

CEL

CEL

SSF

SSF

SSF

Like Alvarado and Gámez, thousands of migrants seek to cross Guatemala every year and so far in 2024 alone, almost 8,000 have been arrested by the security forces for their subsequent deportation, according to figures from the Guatemalan Migration Institute (IGM).

“It doesn’t matter how many times we are deported. If there are no conditions to live in Honduras, we will always find a way to leave again,” Alvarado reiterates, before moving away between the path of a plantation with his journey companion.

The Egyptian Court of Cassation announced on Saturday the decision to remove from the country’s terrorism list the name of the Egyptian football legend Mohamed Aboutrika, as well as another 1,500 more people for their alleged links with the Muslim Brotherhood.

In a statement, the court pointed out that in addition to being removed from this blacklist, the travel ban and the seizure of his funds are also lifted.

“The Court of Cassation heard our arguments today and decided to cancel the judgment of the Criminal Court and return the case for consideration before another court,” said Egyptian lawyer Khaled Ali in his official account of X.

The Criminal Court of Cairo designated Aboutrika in 2017 as a “terrorist” for allegedly financing the Muslim Brotherhood, a group illegalized in Egypt and considered a terrorist since 2013.

Advertisement

20240506_crecerjuntos_720x90

20240426_bcr_censo_728x90

20240502_censo_jorge_728x90

20231223_factura_electronica_728x90

20231124_etesal_728x90_1

20230816_dgs_728x90

20230601_agenda_primera_infancia_728X90

CEL

CEL

SSF

SSF

SSF

A year later, the Prosecutor’s Office requested that his name be included in the country’s “terrorism” list for five years, and last year the Public Prosecutor’s Office decided to renew it for five more years.

This extension is the one that has been rejected today by the Court of Cassation, so this case becomes the competence of another court.

The former Egyptian soccer player publicly supported Mohamed Morsi for the presidency of Egypt, which he won in 2012 in the country’s first democratic elections, although a year later the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood was overthreapped by current President Abdefaltah al Sisi, in a military coup.

International on 102 occasions and double champion of Africa (2006 and 2008), this offensive midfielder, who lives in Qatar and works as a commentator for the Bein Sports channel, was compared for his style of play with the Frenchman Zinedine Zidane and elected Best Player of Africa in club competitions, in 2008.

Advertisement

20240506_crecerjuntos_720x90

20240426_bcr_censo_728x90

20240502_censo_jorge_728x90

20231223_factura_electronica_728x90

20231124_etesal_728x90_1

20230816_dgs_728x90

20230601_agenda_primera_infancia_728X90

CEL

CEL

SSF

SSF

SSF

Days after dozens of police officers arrested more than 100 of their colleagues in two days of protests against the war in Gaza, Linda decided to return to the campus of the University of Texas (Austin) to ask for the resignation of the president of the institution.

The third-year biochemistry student, who asked to hide her name to protect her identity, assured EFE that she does not feel discouraged, quite the contrary. “There is nothing they can do to me that compares to what young people are going through in Gaza.”

The response of the main public university in Texas to the pro-Palestinian demonstrations has been one of the toughest in the country. Without any threat of negotiation with the student leaders, the institution forcibly dissolved a camp set up by university students in a park on campus.

The images of the eviction, where the agents took the students by the arms and legs, threw pepper spray at them and even arrested a photojournalist, became a reflection of the repression against the student movement that has spread throughout the country.

Advertisement

20240506_crecerjuntos_720x90

20240426_bcr_censo_728x90

20240502_censo_jorge_728x90

20231223_factura_electronica_728x90

20231124_etesal_728x90_1

20230816_dgs_728x90

20230601_agenda_primera_infancia_728X90

CEL

CEL

SSF

SSF

SSF

The governor of the state, Republican political media Greg Abbott, has already made it clear which side he is on. “The University and the State will use all the tools at their disposal to quickly put an end to all illegal protests on campus,” he wrote on his Twitter account.

On campus, however, this message has not deterred student activists, who have more protests planned for this last month of classes.

“The repression (…) what it has done is increase the number of people who are willing to fight what is right,” stressed Linda, who has been part of the pro-Palestine student organization Palestine Solidarity Committee, suspended last week by the institution in response to the demonstrations.

A hundred young people, professors and supporters of the anti-war cause once again took the university’s south park shouting slogans such as “Free Palestine” and “We will not stop, we will not rest.”

Aman Odeh, a doctor and associate professor at the University of Texas, approached the esplanade holding his phone up. On the other side of the screen, a group of about six children watched the protest.

Advertisement

20240506_crecerjuntos_720x90

20240426_bcr_censo_728x90

20240502_censo_jorge_728x90

20231223_factura_electronica_728x90

20231124_etesal_728x90_1

20230816_dgs_728x90

20230601_agenda_primera_infancia_728X90

CEL

CEL

SSF

SSF

SSF

“They are part of a family in Gaza that welcomed me,” said the pediatric specialist. “I spent two weeks there as part of a mission and they wanted to see what’s going on here, they feel supported.”

Odeh went up on the stage and, with the phone in his ear, repeated the words of Mohammed, 15 years old, on the other side of the world: “I want to tell you how proud I am; his voice sends a powerful message.”

In addition to expressing a feeling of rejection of war, university students also seek with the protests a series of defined objectives. Force your alma mater to break financial ties with companies that sell weapons to Israel.

Higher education centers in the U.S. are financed with public money, tuition and donations. With the latter, institutions invest in a series of assets, from bonds to shares in private companies, to obtain more capital

Specifically, the students are asking the University of Texas (UT) to stop investing in companies that manufacture weapons and military equipment such as Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, General Dymanics and Boeing.

Advertisement

20240506_crecerjuntos_720x90

20240426_bcr_censo_728x90

20240502_censo_jorge_728x90

20231223_factura_electronica_728x90

20231124_etesal_728x90_1

20230816_dgs_728x90

20230601_agenda_primera_infancia_728X90

CEL

CEL

SSF

SSF

SSF

Roger Reeves, a professor of literature in UT who has been involved in the pro-Palestinian movement, told EFE that the presidency of the university has decided to “listen” to the members of the faculty, but has not committed to negotiating.

“They say they listen, but at the same time they are inviting the police to occupy the university campus,” the academic stressed.