Viewpoint from Honduras: CAFTA, Forced Immigration, Deportation Connections

In Honduras, CWA President Larry Cohen met with women activists, members of Foro de Mujeres por la Vida (the Forum of Women for Life) who are fighting for real change in that country.

CWA President Larry Cohen was in Honduras Oct. 12-15 for meetings with Honduran workers and union leaders, community and women's activists, elected officials and others to focus awareness on the immigration crisis affecting Central American families and the connection with CAFTA and similar bad trade deals. He was joined by Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), the leading Democratic member of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Tefere Gebre, and other U.S. union leaders.

This sign touting minimum wage jobs so that deportees can live "the American dream" greets workers after their tortuous journey to the U.S. and back to Honduras.

At the deportation center in San Pedro Sula, planes land with over 100 Hondurans a day, returned from our border prisons to their native land. They are mostly young men, shackled hands and legs, who have harrowing tales of days in what they call the "ice box," the U.S. detention centers on our borders that are so crowded they must stand up for hours, taking turns lying down to sleep. These were heartbreaking conversations, nearly hopeless tales through tears – of failed attempts to unify with families or find work.

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