In migrant caravan, a Nicaraguan family flees persecution
934 views · Published 30 October 2018 · 2:45 · Indexed 29 September 2026
Channel: AP Archive · 2018 · News & Politics
(25 Oct 2018) Amid thousands of mostly Honduran migrants fleeing poverty and gang violence and hoping to make it to the United States, the Velasquez Gonzalez family from Diriamba, Nicaragua, is something of an outsider. While most here joined spontaneously as word of the caravan spread in the last 10 days, their long, terrible journey began in early July when the Nicaraguan government launched a crackdown on opposition protests demanding President Daniel Ortega leave office. Since then it's been months of running and hiding, and after all that, walking through Mexico along with an estimated 7,000 others - still at least 1,000 miles from the nearest US border crossing - almost seems like the end of the journey, rather than the beginning. Nicaraguan security forces and armed, pro-government militias violently dislodged opposition roadblocks, resulting in several hundred deaths since the spring and sending the Velasquez Gonzalez men, who had taken part in the protests, into the mountains and hiding for 12 days. Then came weeks of hunkering down in a string of five safe houses in Managua, the capital, before the family slipped across the border into Honduras. When they caught up with the migrant caravan a week ago in Guatemala, it was a relief. Prison, death and other forms of persecution are very real possibilities back home for those who've opposed Ortega. "Thanks to God these countries (Guatemala and Mexico) have given us a hand," said Lester Javier Velasquez Gonzalez, 38. Lester; wife Idania Molina Rocha; his son Axel, 14; and their daughter Axel Michelle, 9, have brought their dreams with them. Axel has carted her favorite doll, Sofia, through five countries, and hopes to one day play in the snow in the United States - it's something she has never seen in her tropical hometown. They're carrying their nightmares as well. Alex saw his best friend shot to death in the streets of Diriamba when police and pro-Ortega paramilitaries broke up a roadblock on 8 July. "They shot him a block away, a direct hit from a 47 (AK 47) in his stomach," Axel said recalling how the intense gunfire kept him from able to rescue his friend as he bled out from a wound in the abdomen. "They had weapons and were shooting at us to kill." Axel was hit in the leg by what was perhaps police tear gas canister. The wound is still visible on his femur, and he's walked from Nicaragua through Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and now southern Mexico on crutches, still limping badly. Nicaraguans seek asylum in the US in far lower numbers than people from Central America's "Northern Triangle" of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, but their denial rates are similarly high. It's too early to tell, but Ortega's crackdown may give some Nicaraguans an opening if they can show they are being targeted for their political beliefs. Already, his government has already been hit by US sanctions. Qualifying for asylum requires proving a well-founded fear of persecution on one of five grounds: race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group. That last category is the most difficult to define, and it's how many Central Americans try to get in, claiming they are victims of domestic or gang violence. US Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who oversees immigration courts, said in June that domestic and gang violence would generally no longer qualify. The Velasquez Gonzalez may stand a better chance than many others in the caravan who have cited poverty and gangs as their reasons for leaving home. Idania nearly wept as she showed a photo that appeared in a local newspaper. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/da53e031df447c2acbc7907e4c448733
