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NORTH AMERICAN FREE TRADE AGREEMENT
Negotiations take on a new urgency Ministers will meet again as presidential election nears By Eric Martin and Josh Wingrove B L OOMBE RG NEWS
NAFTA talks will continue through the weekend before ministers regroup Tuesday, as negotiations take on new urgency while Mexico cautions nothing is imminent.
Senior U.S., Canadian and Mexican officials met in Washington Friday, under pressure from looming elections to reach a deal quickly. The countries have said they’re hopeful for something by early May, though the U.S. has indicated it may be only a deal “in principle.” Key
figures struck a generally upbeat tone. “We are basically working very hard, but I think there’s still a lot of work to do,” Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said on his way into meetings. On his way out, he downplayed the notion of a deal that focused only on the auto sector and said countries will need to be flexible to get a quick deal. The talks include Guajardo, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Canadian Foreign
MEXICO CARAVAN
Minister Chrystia Freeland, as well as White House adviser Jared Kushner, Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray and Katie Telford, the chief of staff to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The countries are said to have concluded the chapter on telecommunications, the seventh completed out of about 30 potential chapters. Click here to read about all the reasons why NAFTA talks are in a hurry NAFTA continues on A8
Peter Mccabe / AFP/Getty Images
Mexico's Minister of Economy Ildefonso Guajardo, Canadian Foreign Affairs minister Chrystia Freeland, and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, from left, address the press at the closing of a NAFTA meeting.
ST. MARTIN'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH
MEMORIAL HONORS BARBARA BUSH Jordi Ruiz Cirera / Bloomberg
A group of Central American refugees and asylum seekers ride ‘The Beast’ freight train in Matias Romero, Oaxaca state, Mexico.
Remnants of caravan hop a train heading for the border Handout / Office of George H.W. Bush
About 500 migrants stretch out on the roofs of freight cars A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
MEXICO CITY — The remnants of a caravan of Central American migrants that drew angry tweets from President Donald Trump hopped on the roofs of a freight train Thursday heading for northern Mexico. About 500 migrants departed the western Mexico city of Guadalajara before dawn, stretching out on the roofs of freight cars. “We are heading north seeking a better life,” said Mirna Ruiz, a Honduran. “As you know, in Honduras we just can’t live there anymore because of the gangs. We can’t even go shopping because we are afraid. We are also worried that our children will be recruited by the gangs. Those are the fears in our country.” Caravan organizer Irineo Mujica said the migrants expected to reach the Pacific coast city of Mazatlan, then go to the northern city of Hermosillo, where they might make a rest stop sometime over the weekend. They would then continue to the U.S. border, where they hope to arrive by April 24, he said. Mujica said a couple of hundred migrants were expected to
Former President George H. W. Bush greets the mourners with his daughter Dorothy "Doro" Bush Koch during the visitation of former first lady Barbara Bush at St. Martin's Episcopal Church Friday in Houston, Texas.
Former President George HW Bush greets mourners
turn themselves over to U.S. authorities at the border and request asylum, arguing that it was too dangerous for them to stay in Honduras, where most are from. The caravan left the Guatemala-Mexico border in late March and grew to more than 1,000 migrants who found safety travelling in numbers. It was to have formally ended in Mexico City, but many of the migrants feared going solo on the dangerous final leg north and decided to keep travelling en masse. Some who had split off to press on alone reported back about kidnappings and having their papers for safe passage torn up. Also Thursday, Mexico’s National Immigration Institute said its agents found a total of 191 mostly Central American migrants jammed into a truck and a bus in southern and central Mexico. The institute said 103 migrants were found packed into a truck in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz. The people had gone two days without food or water. All but two are from Guatemala, and 55 are minors. Agents also found 88 migrants crowded into a bus that
HOUSTON — Former President George H.W. Bush greeted some of the hundreds of mourners filing through a large Houston church on Friday to pay final respects to his wife of 73 years, former first lady Barbara Bush. A spray of dozens of pink and yellow roses covered her closed, light-colored metallic casket in the sanctuary of St. Martin’s Episcopal Church. The 93-year-old former president arrived shortly after a daylong public viewing began, sitting in a wheelchair nearby and smiling as people shook his outstretched hand and offered condolences. Barbara Bush died on Tuesday at age 92 at the couple’s Houston home, where her husband also by her side. Many women wore blue, Barbara Bush’s favorite color, and pearls, a nod to her go-to neckwear jewelry. Officials say about 1,600 people had come through the church in about the first hour after going through security checks and boarding shuttle buses to travel a few miles to the nation’s largest Episcopal church. Lucy Orlando was among more than 100 people in line well before bus service began, after traveling from Florida. Originally from
Migrants continues on A8
Bush continues on A8
By Juan A. Lozano and John L. Mone ASSOCIATED PRE SS
David J. Phillip / AP
A woman holds the program during visitation of former first lady Barbara Bush.