Introduction — Nov 2, 2018

We now know that George Soros’s Open Society Foundation played a big role in facilitating the flood of “refugees/migrants” into Europe. A leaked memo spoke of how migrants could be used to provide ‘new opportunities for reforming migration governance at the global level’.

Soros OSF was also behind guides handed out to migrants en route to Europe instructing them where to find help and assistance. Although there is no evidence that Soros or his agents are behind the migrant caravan heading toward the U.S. border, there are indications that others have been involved. We spell out who at the foot of this report. Ed.

Migrant caravan families face illness, exhaustion and danger

David Agren and Matías Romero — The Guardian Nov 2, 2018

As their fellow travellers rested along the side of the road, Walter Hernández and his four-year-old son David tossed a bouncy yellow ball back and forth amid the black soot of burned-off brush. The acrid smell of smoke still lingered as they played.

But all was not well, confided Hernández.

“My son has a cough and can’t sleep, and my daughter has a fever,” he said, nodding towards two-year-old Génesis, whose face was buried in her mother’s shoulder.

In the two weeks since setting out from San Pedro Sula in Honduras, the caravan of migrants travelling across southern Mexico has crossed two borders and covered more than 1,000 km (621 miles), passing through police roadblocks, disaster zones, sweltering heat and torrential downpours.

And the trek is taking an increasingly heavy toll on the travellers, especially parents and young children – many of whom are too small to understand the epic journey.

The group – which at one point swelled to around 7,000 people – has now shrunk to about 4,000 as members chose to seek asylum in Mexico or succumbed to exhaustion and illness. Members of the group complained of coughs and colds, blisters and sunburns, insect bites and eye infections.

Nobody knows how many children are with the caravan now, although last week the UN children’s agency put the figure at around 2,300. They travel sprawled in strollers, or slung sweatily across their parents’ chests – or they trudge along the roadside.

There has been at least one death – a man, who fell from a truck soon after the group entered Mexico – and one birth: a baby girl was born on Wednesday, to a Guatemalan woman in the town of Juchitán.

On Thursday, the first members of the group reached the town of Matías Romero on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the slender waist of Mexico where Pacific and Gulf coasts lie just 220km (137 miles) apart.

Although few in the caravan have a clear idea of their eventual route, crossing the isthmus will lead them to the Gulf state of Veracruz – a region which has long been a death trap for migrants.

Farther away, Donald Trump has seized on the caravan ahead of US midterms, tweeting feverishly about an “invasion”, mobilizing troops on the US border, and promising to intern migrants in “tent cities”. By now – thanks mainly to the sizable media pack which has followed the caravan for most of its journey – most members of the group are aware that Trump does not want them.

But they remain hopeful that they will reach the US, a country they often see as an idealised country of justice and opportunity – in contrast, they say, to the corruption and violence back home.

And parents say they have no choice but to bring their children to avoid forced recruitment, sexual assault or murder by the gangs which dominate many Central American towns.

Hernández, a wiry farmhand from the north coast of Honduras, fled with his family after gangs gave him an ultimatum: join “or we’ll mess with your family”.

Continues …

Comment — Nov 2, 2018

Readers will note that the Guardian report makes absolutely no mention of who is financing the caravan. Because an operation to sustain thousands as they trek toward the United States takes more than donations from a few locals they pass along the way.

At a bare minimum they will need food and blankets and fresh water and given that they number several thousand they will need a lot of each. So where is the logistic support for the caravan actually coming from?

James O’Keefe’s undercover operatives at Project Veritas have filmed Democratic campaign staffers discussing how they are assisting the caravan with campaign funds. No doubt the objective is to embarrass Trump and force some sort of confrontation on the U.S. border, although it is unclear how this will benefit the Democrats.

Ignoring the advice of campaign strategists who argue that party members should hide their positions on immigration, several Democratic Party have also sent positive signals to the caravan. Suggesting that they will be “welcomed” when they arrive at the border.