Guatemala tries to block migrant caravan heading for US
- As many as 9,000 Hondurans have entered Guatemala bound for the US, as Joe Biden is set to take office promising a more humane approach to migration
- They are fleeing poverty, violence, and a region hit by hurricanes and the coronavirus pandemic
Up to 9,000 migrants have entered Guatemala since Friday, according to Guatemala’s immigration authority, fleeing poverty and violence in a region battered by the coronavirus pandemic and back-to-back hurricanes in November.
Videos showed Guatemalan security forces clashing with a group of hundreds of migrants who managed to break through a police blockade at the village of Vado Hondo, near Chiquimula in eastern Guatemala. Most entered without showing the negative coronavirus test that Guatemala requires.
“A small group got through and the rest were detained. The people who got past have been located,” said Alejandra Mena, a spokeswoman for Guatemala’s immigration agency.
Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei issued a statement calling on Honduran authorities “to contain the mass exit of its inhabitants”.
“The government of Guatemala regrets this violation of national sovereignty and calls on the governments of Central America to take measures to avoid putting their inhabitants at risk amid the health emergency due to the pandemic,” Giammattei said.
Between Friday and Saturday, Guatemala had sent back almost 1,000 migrants entering from Honduras, the government said, as the caravan moved towards Mexico.
The caravan is likely to come under more pressure in Mexico, where its migration accord with the United States still holds. The caravan would be dispersed, a Mexican official said.