Over 9,000 Honduran caravan beaten back with batons and tear gas in Guatemala

The caravan of at least 9,000 Hondurans, divided into three groups heading to the United States, left San Pedro Sula, a city in northern Honduras, and sneaked illegally between Friday night and Saturday through the El Florido border post, Chiquimula.

In previous years there were already caravans of Honduran migrants to the United States.

The Guatemalan Police once again repressed and stopped this Monday a caravan with thousands of Honduran migrants and refugees, stationed during the weekend on a route in the town of Vado Hondo, where they were surrounded on their way on foot to cross Mexico and arrive finally to the United States.

The police contingent advanced with force on the mass of migrants and managed that some 4,000 Hondurans fell back and others ran sideways, dispersing within the town, but still within Guatemalan territory.

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The police operation left the route clear for the advance of cargo transport, held for more than three days.

The caravans of Central American migrants trying to reach and enter the United States constitute a series of exoduses that began with special force in October 2018 from the city of San Pedro Sula, the economic capital of Honduras.

This time it is between 8,000 and 9,000 Hondurans who began the journey last week, pushed by the crisis in Honduras, aggravated by the impact of storms Eta and Iota.

The Guatemalan Foreign Minister, Pedro Brolo, specified that bilateral and regional meetings were held to attend to the eventual passage of migrants to the United States, but considered that the Government of Honduras breached its commitments by allowing the start of a new caravan that the end During the week he managed to overcome the police fence in Guatemala and entered that neighboring country.

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The complex migration situation in the region was compounded by the coronavirus crisis last year, which caused the closure of border crossings and much more rigid controls.

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In this regard, Brolo reported on Monday the detection of 21 cases of Covid-19 among the 8,000 Hondurans who entered the country irregularly, according to the local press.

The confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the caravan were transferred to the nearest Respiratory Welfare Centers to keep quarantine, after which they will be deported to Honduras, indicated the Ministry of Health and Social Assistance of Guatemala.

Guillermo Díaz, general director of the Guatemalan Migration Institute, denounced to the newspaper Prensa Libre that Honduran migrants can buy false coronavirus tests for a price of 700 lempiras (about $ 30) at the Corinto border crossing.

“They have been deceived in Honduras, there is an office here next door – on the border – that is generating false antigen tests and that is not fair, because they are taking the money that it does not bring from the poor people,” said Díaz.

The Guatemalan authorities require each migrant to have a passport or identification document and a negative PCR or Covid-19 antigen test, and in the case of minors, a passport and the company of their parents.

Despite the number of obstacles, spokesmen for the caravans confirmed their determination to arrive in Mexico to continue to the United States, hoping to be welcomed in that country by the new US government that will take office next Wednesday.

However, the Mexican authorities have already deployed their security forces on the border with Guatemala to prevent the entry of the caravan.

“Mexico does not promote or allow the irregular entry of migrant caravans into national territory,” emphasized the Mexican Foreign Ministry in its Twitter social network account.

New caravan enters Mexico and is stopped by the INM

Shortly after they entered Mexico through the southern border, the migrant caravan was detained by INM personnel and the Federal Police

No description available.

Tapachula, Chiapas.- A new migrant caravan entered Mexico today through the southern border, but a few kilometers from advancing into national territory it was arrested and its 200 members taken to INM facilities.

This morning, the undocumented persons crossed the Suchiate River, which divides the country with Guatemala , and set out on foot towards Tapachula.

They had barely advanced about 10 kilometers when an operation from the National Institute of Migration and the Federal Police intercepted them in the Municipality of Frontera Hidalgo.

The agents put the foreigners on four buses and six Urvan-type units to transfer them to the Siglo 21 Migration Station .

Security sources affirmed that the migrants did not resist arrest due to the promise that the authorities would facilitate the regularization or asylum procedures, as required.

In mid-January, a new wave of Central Americans arrived in the country, so the federal government implemented an emergent program that facilitated the delivery of more than 12,000 cards for humanitarian reasons.

Do you consider that Mexico should allow access to the migrant caravan to reach the United States?

Yes 5%

Yes, but once the situation of the other migrants is resolved 13%

No 76%

I do not care 3%

2680 PEOPLE HAVE ALREADY PARTICIPATED .

Source: telam.com.ar, elheraldodechiapas.com.mx

Mexico Daily Post