[News] Thousands of Latin American Immigrants Among Katrina's Victims

[Anti-Imperialist News]

Thousands of Latin American Immigrants Among Katrina's Victims
Diego Cevallos
Inter Press Service
September 5, 2005

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.




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