A second caravan of Central Americans – mostly Hondurans – is headed for the Mexico/USA border in an apparent staged confrontation to occur just before the 2018 midterm election Nov. 6. Mexico should stop them all at their southern border with Guatemala and keep them from entering Mexico and prevent this purely political display from happening.

This new caravan is the second border showdown this year. This past April a caravan of an estimated 1,500 Central Americans made it to the border claiming asylum, causing all sorts of problems with parents being arrested and separated from their children for attempting to enter the USA illegally.

The pictures and news footage of mostly mothers away from their children were highly exploited by mainstream media causing a public relations nightmare for the Trump administration and they will do it again this time if these people are allowed passage through Mexico as planned.

The numbers of Central Americans participating in this second wave is estimated at around 4,000 to 5,000.

President Donald Trump says if Mexico lets them through and they make it to El Paso, Texas and or Tijuana, Mexico that he will close the entire southern border tight, call in the U.S. military and cut off foreign aid to Mexico and the Northern Triangle of Central America — Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

News reports on Wednesday said the new president-elect of Mexico Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is working with President Trump on trade and immigration problems. Outgoing Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto — has sent a large contingent of 500 national police to Mexico’s southern border with Guatemala in an attempt to turn them away and keep it Guatemala’s problem and not Mexico’s or the USA’s.

On Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with Nieto and Obrador plus their foreign ministers to devise a plan to keep the Central Americans from crossing the Mexico/Guatemala border.

In a series of tweets this week President Trump — in no uncertain words — said he’s putting the hammer down on this caravan that is endangering the lives of hundreds of young children that are being used as political pawns.

“The United States has strongly informed the President of Honduras that if the large Caravan of people heading to the U.S. is not stopped and brought back to Honduras, no more money or aid will be given to Honduras, effective immediately!” Trump tweeted on Tuesday. “We have today informed the countries of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador that if they allow their citizens, or others, to journey through their borders and up to the United States, with the intention of entering our country illegally, all payments to them will STOP (END)!

“Hard to believe that with thousands of people from South of the border, walking unimpeded toward our country in the form of Caravans, that the Democrats won’t approve legislation that will allow laws for the protection of our country. Great Midterm issue for Republicans!”

These Central Americans need to go back home and fix their own countries. They are being fed misinformation and downright propaganda about entering the USA to take advantage of America’s benefits. It’s like they are taking the easy way out and not facing their problems at home head-on.

Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador are apparently overrun by drug lords, drug dealers and gangs – so much so that their citizens are fleeing these oppressions, but fleeing is not the answer. These governments should consider what the current president of the Philippines did when he first took office. He authorized national police to conduct pre-judicial killings of drug dealers and those in cahoots with the drug dealers including corrupt government officials. Thousands ended up dead on the streets throughout the Philippines but it worked.

Mexico’s new President Obrador, who takes office in December, should become much more involved with their southern neighbors and meddle in their internal affairs. Mexico’s financial and political clout would go a long way to forcing these countries to create a more stable environment for their citizens.

About the Author Britt Nelson relocated to Costa Rica in 2011 from Florida, where he served as news editor for the Palatka Daily News, a newspaper owned by the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group (NYT-RNG) for 20 years.

Nelson served the NYT-RNG for 18 years in Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida as a correspondent, reporter, staff writer, senior staff writer training new reporters, copy editor, page designer, editorial writer, editorial page editor and editorial board member.