The trickle-down effect of a US tragedy!
Displaced Hondurans turn to South Florida to rebuild lives
By Sandra Hernandez
Staff Writer
Posted September 2 2005
Weary and homeless, Hondurans from New Orleans began trickling into
South Florida this week after Hurricane Katrina devastated what was
once the largest Honduran community in the United States, according
to local groups.
"We are starting to see license plates and family members arrive,"
said Jose Cerrato, president of the Honduran Organization of Palm
Beach. "Everyone is sick with worry.
Cerrato's own brother evacuated to Houston and arrived Tuesday in
South Florida, where he plans to live. Cerrato counts himself among
the fortunate who tracked down family. Thousands in South Florida and
in Central America have yet to learn the whereabouts of loved ones or
whether they survived.
Before Katrina hit, an estimated 120,000 Hondurans lived in the New
Orleans area, according to Carlos Siercke, the Honduran consul
general in Miami. They sent between 20 percent and 30 percent of the
$1.3 billion in remittances to the impoverished Central American
nation, devastated in 1998 by Hurricane Mitch.
Now refugees themselves, many are expected to begin new lives in
Florida, where 60,000 Hondurans already live. Many in South Florida's
Honduran community arrived in the aftermath of Hurricane Mitch and
are living in a kind of immigration limbo, while others crossed
illegally and hold down construction or farm jobs.
"I would say the Honduran community here is going to grow
significantly," Siercke said. "I have heard of cases of families who
are urging their relatives in Louisiana and Mississippi to come here.
They are telling them, `Don't stay in a hotel. Come live with me.'"
Among those expecting to take in the displaced is Lizette Hawet, a
Miami resident awaiting word from a friend forced to leave New
Orleans.
"She called to tell me she wanted to come here but was stuck because
the roads are flooded," Hawet said. "I haven't been able to reach
her. We don't know where anyone is."
Juanita Flores, also of Miami, received a similar call. "My friend
called me on Tuesday and told me her first-floor apartment was gone
and she needed a place to live" Flores said. "She made it out with
some friends from the college she was attending and were trying to
get to Atlanta. But I don't know where she is now. And I have another
friend in the same situation who I expect will show up soon with his
wife and kids."
Indeed, Honduran families in South Florida felt the misery and death
spread by Katrina as they frantically tried to find missing loved
ones.
"The biggest problem is so many people in Honduras can't find out
anything," Cerrato said. "You have people who are undocumented and
were afraid to go to the shelters."
Beyond the human toll, Katrina also brought a terrible economic cost.
The loss of remittances sent by those in New Orleans will
be "devastating,"adding up to more than $40 million annually.
"Remittances represent about 10 percent of that country's total
income, and that is a conservative estimate," said Manuel Orozco, a
remittance expert with the Inter American Dialogue, a Washington,
D.C.-based think tank. "This is another blow on top of Mitch."
Other consulates in Miami also tried to find their foreign nationals.
The Nicaraguan Consulate, which serves Louisiana, was preparing to
help track about 5,000 nationals who lived there, but the search had
to wait for the floodwaters to subside.
"Right now we are just trying to find those who may have fled to
Houston or Baton Rouge," said Jose Velazquez, the Nicaraguan consul
general in Miami. "I will try and send someone there to help as soon
as we have more information, to help provide information to families
back home and even homes to those who lost everything.'
Similarly, Honduras sent a special envoy to Baton Rouge to help find
its nationals after the New Orleans consulate was destroyed. A toll-
free telephone line was set up for families to call in, Siercke said.
Other governments were also stepping in with aid. Venezuela's
government donated $1 million through CITGO, a Houston-based company.
CITGO is owned by Venezuela's government-run oil company. The
donation comes amid mounting tensions between the United States and
the oil rich nation. Venezuela is a key fuel supplier to the United
States.
Sandra Hernandez can be reached at smhernandez.....com or
954-356-4514.
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