Trump sends troops to the border | The president of …

US President Donald Trump yesterday threatened to close the border with Mexico and announced the sending of additional troops to the border with his neighboring country. The president's statements come in the wake of an incident in which uniformed Mexicans disarmed US troops because they thought they were on their side of the border. Despite the inflamed words of the New York mogul, his Mexican counterpart, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, said that he was not going to be provoked.

"Recently, Mexican soldiers disarmed our National Guard soldiers, probably as a tactic to divert drug traffickers to the border, it is better that it does not happen again! Now we are sending armed soldiers to the border," tweeted Trump, who also said Mexico was not doing enough to stop and return migrants to their respective countries. In another publication, the president wrote: "A large caravan of more than 20,000 people crosses Mexico, the amount has been reduced by Mexico but it still comes in. Mexico has to stop those who remain or we will be forced to close this part of the border and to call the army. "A Pentagon official, who asked to remain anonymous, said that 2,900 soldiers and 2,000 national guards are currently deployed and that" there is no way to do this. there are still armed troops for the protection of the contingent.

According to a statement by the US authorities, on April 13 around 2 pm, between five and six Mexican soldiers interrogated two US soldiers carrying out a border support operation in a vehicle not carrying the Border Patrol identification (CBP for its acronym in English). The incident occurred near the city of Clint Texas, near the Rio Grande, which marks the border between the two countries. "An investigation by the CBP and the Department of Defense revealed that the Mexican army thought the US soldiers were on the south side of the border," US officials said, pointing out that their troops were at the right in law. According to the statement, after a brief discussion, the Mexican army has left the scene.

This story was supported by the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which however said that this type of incident was commonplace. "This is an ordinary patrol check, with no consequences for both governments, who maintain a continuous and fluid communication," said the Foreign Ministry.

The Mexican president, for his part, did not want to start a verbal escalation with his American counterpart. "We will not be provocative, the most important thing is to say (Trump) that we are not going to fight against the US government," he said at his usual morning conference. . Since October, thousands of migrants, mostly from Central America, are crossing Mexico in crowded caravans hoping to reach the United States and escape violence and violence. poverty. Trump sees this exodus as a threat to national security and asks Mexico to stop them, in the context of a harsh speech against illegal immigration that was at the heart of his election campaign and which was to the origin of many decisions of his government.

Yesterday, several NGOs denounced in Geneva that the Mexican government had arrested between 4,000 and 5,000 people in the state of Chiapas (south of the country), many in deplorable conditions. Salva Lacruz, coordinator of Fray Matías de Córdova, Human Rights Center of the NGO for Chiapas, pointed out that the current pressures by the US administration on Mexico for these caravans stopped could be one of the factors in this tightening of migration policies.

However, López Obrador said in his speech yesterday that although the United States has been pressuring their government to put an end to forced migration and, despite the fact that 39. They did not want migrants, Mexico maintains as a fundamental proposition the urgent need for development of Central America. "We do not want to fight against the US government, we do not want to participate in partisan political confrontations either … At the same time, we respectfully ask that the problem be addressed with development, with the creation jobs, which has not been done, "he said.

The president also badured that his government's policy on immigration in Central America had not changed, after the authorities on Monday arrested a group of 371 undocumented immigrants, mainly Honduras, in the state of Chiapas (south of the country). "There is no contradiction, we have acted with great respect for migrants and we will continue to do so, with respect for their human rights," said the president.

On Tuesday, López Obrador had declared that he did not want Central American migrants to have free access to the north of their territory for their own safety. "Unfortunately, in the north of the country, we have had problems with the killing of migrants at other times and we do not want to," he added, adding that in the face of violence in the country, north of the country, it is better to serve the migrant population of Central America, south and southeast.

The north of Mexico, on the border of the United States, concentrates a strong activity of cartels of the drug, because it constitutes the way of entry of its illegal goods in the United States. Some migrants trying to cross, especially in the north-east of the country, are often victims of badbadinations that kidnap and extort money.