Central American media focus on family separation crisis less acute than in U.S.

PHOENIX — The heart-wrenching audio of weeping migrant children at a Texas shelter asking for their parents sparked international outcry and condemnations.

But people living in Mexico and Central American countries don't appear to be getting the same in-depth, around-the-clock media coverage of the migrant crisis that's playing out along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The coverage in Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala appears scant in print and on social media. It's been mostly official government statements about the outcry against Trump's policy of separating families, a practice that ended Wednesday.

In Mexico, for instance, a presidential message congratulating the country's soccer team victory over Germany at the World Cup and a gymnast who won seven medals were the trending social media topics.

Contrast that with Mexico President Enrique Peña Nieto's silence over Trump's zero-tolerance policy that resulted in more than 2,300 children being separated from their parents.

Meanwhile, media coverage in Central American countries has been prominent, but scant and subdued.

On June 20, the region's most important newspapers carried front-page coverage with the phrase "inhuman and cruel immigration action." Here's a sampling of coverage:

• In Honduras, the headline of the country's newspaper La Prensa read: "Separation of families is cruel and inhumane."

• In El Salvador, the headline of La Prensa Gráfica newspaper read: "50 Salvadoran families separated in the U.S."

• In Guatemala, the newspaper La Hora published a big photo of a Guatemalan girl holding a message that read: "I oppose the separation of the children of their parents."

• In Mexico, the national newspaper El Universal went further and likened the American treatment of migrant children to that of terrorists: "The United States treats migrant children as Taliban."

The region's newspapers featured front-page articles about Trump's immigration policy provoking an outcry in the United States.

But more of their coverage focused on local issues like Mexico’s presidential election, the volcano eruption in Guatemala and the decades-old temporary immigration protection for Central Americans known TPS that Trump has ended.

On social media, most of the tweets about the migrant crisis were statements from government officials and public reaction to them.

The presidents of Honduras and El Salvador tweeted press releases condemning Trump's policies. They asked the U.S. authorities to respect the rights of immigrants and to notify the parents or relatives of those detained. They also called for due process and asked that children not be separated from their parents.

In Guatemala, President Jimmy Morales posted a message on his Facebook page urging Trump to end the policy.

"When a policy, however necessary it pretends to be and that ends in the separation of the family and the pain of so many human beings, especially children, not only should it be revised, it should be corrected as soon as possible. The nobility and greatness of a nation are at stake."

A glaring omission in newspapers and social media was warnings about the dangers of coming to the United States.

WSBTV