1,200 Refugees Reach Border of El Salvador
About 1,200 Salvadoran refugees--mainly women, children and the elderly--arrived at a border post in western Honduras on Saturday seeking to return to El Salvador.
“We ask for respect for the right to live and an end to repression,” said a statement from the refugees, who for the past eight years have lived in a U.N.-sponsored camp in Honduras.
But the convoy of about 150 vehicles was held up after the Salvadoran army said it would not allow some international workers to cross with the refugees. Talks were under way to resolve the problem, relief officials said.
The refugees were accompanied by representatives of the Roman Catholic Church and relief organizations.
Loaded down with belongings, the refugees left the Mesa Grande camp at midday. The convoy, including buses, trucks and two tractors, arrived at the El Poy border post, 50 miles north of Tegucigalpa, after a three-hour drive.
It was to be the second major repatriation of Salvadoran refugees since the signing a year ago of a Central American peace plan in which governments agreed to take steps to let refugees return home.
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