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Agence France-Presse

Guatemalan security forces on Monday broke up a caravan of some 4,000 Honduran migrants trying to reach the United States on a journey of thousands of kilometres through Central America on foot.
Police advanced on the group in a coordinated move, striking batons against their shields to make an intimidating noise, prompting the migrants to scatter.
The group was still on Guatemalan soil, and some regrouped to resume their quest for a better life further north.
The caravan, which departed Honduras on Friday, has been held up since Saturday at the town of Vado Hondo in southeast Guatemala, some 50km (31 miles) inside the border.
They have been waiting to pass, sleeping out of doors and blocking a key road where a massive logjam of cargo trucks has built up as a result.
As the migrants retreated before the advancing security forces Monday, several threw stones at police.
The officers responded with tear gas as they attempted to drive the group back towards the Honduran border, thus clearing the road for trucks.

Women carrying small children were among those to flee before the police.
“I am going with my son, in Honduras I have nowhere to live,” a woman told the Guatevision channel, catching her breath after a brisk run.
“If we had money we would not be here heading north. They treat us like dogs, it should not be like this,” said another woman, holding a small girl by either hand.
On Sunday, the group was confronted by police and soldiers wielding tear gas and batons under strict orders to stop anyone without travel documents or a negative coronavirus test from going any further.
Several migrants were injured in Sunday’s clashes, a health worker said.
Guatemala tries to block migrant caravan heading for US
Saying they are desperate to escape poverty, unemployment, gang and drug violence and the aftermath of two devastating hurricanes, the migrants aim to cross Guatemala and Mexico and walk all the way to the United States.
They are hoping for a warmer welcome, and a better life, in the America of President-elect Joe Biden after years of anti-immigrant rhetoric by Donald Trump.

Some 9,000 have set out from Honduras since Friday.
On Monday, Guatemalan migration authorities said more than 1,500, including 208 children, have since returned to Honduras. Some 800 people were stuck in a neighbouring town to Vado Hondo.
The quest is likely to end in heartbreak for many, with Guatemala having deployed 5,000 soldiers along the arduous route, and Washington warning the would-be asylum seekers in an official communication not to “waste your time and money”.
Caravan: a look at the word’s humble origins
Guatemala migration head Guillermo Diaz insisted Saturday the group “will not be able to pass”, citing coronavirus contagion risk.
According to the country’s health ministry, 21 migrants tested along the route so far were positive for the virus.
Several dozen people who avoided controls have reached Ciudad Tecun Uman, the border post between Guatemala and southwestern Mexico. But they have little hope of getting past the Mexican National Guard deployed at the border.

The Mexican government has said it would not allow “illegal entry” and has deployed 500 immigration officers to border states, as well as buses to bring migrants back to Honduras.
On Monday, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador called for dialogue to avoid further clashes.
“We are making proposals to seek dialogue with the migrants … They should be taken care of so that they do not enter any country by force,” he told reporters.
Trump calls US-bound migrant caravan from Central America a national emergency
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has expressed “concern” over the forceful containment of the caravan at Vado Hondo, and urged Guatemala’s security forces to handle the situation with minimum force.
But Guatemala has denounced what it said was a violation of its national sovereignty, and urged Honduras to “contain the massive departure of its inhabitants”.
Honduras has, in turn, complained about the way its citizens have been treated by its neighbour.
More than a dozen caravans, some with thousands of migrants, have set off from Honduras since October 2018, but all have run up against thousands of US border guards and soldiers under Trump.


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Americas and the Caribbean

Guatemalan troops break up US-bound migrant caravan

A woman cries along with her child as Guatemalan troops and police break up caravan of migrants in Vado Hondo, Guatemala. Photo: EPA

epa08947057 Thousands of migrants block the road in Vado Hondo, Chiquimula, Guatemala, 18 January 2021. The Guatemalan security forces forcibly dissolved a migrant caravan of more than 6,000 Hondurans seeking to reach the United States. EPA-EFE/Esteban Biba

Hondurans taking part in a new caravan of migrants set to head to the United States, walk along a road in El Florido, Guatemala January 16, 2021. REUTERS/Luis Echeverria

Honduran migrants, top, stand between cargo trucks as they confront Guatemalan soldiers and police blocking them from advancing toward the US, on the highway in Vado Hondo, Guatemala, Monday, Jan. 18, 2021. The roadblock was strategically placed at a chokepoint on the two-lane highway flanked by a tall mountainside and a wall leaving the migrants with few options. (AP Photo/Sandra Sebastian)

Guatemala tries to block migrant caravan heading for US

Guatemalan authorities estimated that as many as 9,000 Honduran migrants have crossed into the country in an effort to reach the US border. Photo: AP

A Honduran migrant woman carries a child on her back as they travel with other migrants by foot along a highway in Chiquimula, Guatemala, Saturday, Jan. 16, 2021, in hopes of reaching the U.S. border. Guatemalan authorities estimated that as many as 9,000 Honduran migrants crossed into Guatemala as part of an effort to form a new caravan to reach the U.S. border. (AP Photo/Sandra Sebastian)

Honduran migrants hoping to reach the U.S. border rest on the side of a highway in Vado Hondo, Guatemala, Saturday, Jan. 16, 2021. Guatemalan authorities estimated that as many as 9,000 Honduran migrants crossed into Guatemala as part of an effort to form a new caravan to reach the U.S. border. (AP Photo/Sandra Sebastian)

Migrants from caravan arrive at border to seek asylum, but US says crossing is full

Central American migrants arrive at the wall in the US-Mexico border, at Tijuana, Mexico, on Sunday. Photo: EPA

Pro-migrant caravan demonstrators climb the US-Mexico border fence during a rally on April 29, 2018, in San Ysidro, California. The US has threatened to arrest around 100 Central American migrants if they try to sneak in from the US-Mexico border where they have gathered, prompting US President Donald Trump to order troop reinforcements on the frontier. / AFP PHOTO / Sandy Huffaker

Demonstrators march to meet Central American migrants traveling in a caravan for a gathering at the border on the beach where the border wall ends in the ocean, Sunday, April 29, 2018, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

Mexican stand-off: migrant caravan stuck on bridge in Guatemala after storming border

A frame grab from video provided by Televisa showing migrants heading for the US stuck on the border bridge between Guatemala and Mexico on October 19, 2018. Photo: AP

Migrants bound for the U.S.-Mexico border wait on a bridge that stretches over the Suchiate River, connecting Guatemala and Mexico, in Tecun Uman, Guatemala, Friday, Oct. 19, 2018. The gated entry into Mexico via the bridge has been closed. The U.S. president has made it clear to Mexico that he is monitoring its response. On Thursday he threatened to close the U.S. border if Mexico didn't stop the caravan. (AP Photo/Oliver de Ros)

Migrants tired of waiting to cross into Mexico, jumped from a border bridge into the Suchiate River, in Tecun Uman, Guatemala, Friday, Oct. 19, 2018. Some of the migrants traveling in a mass caravan towards the U.S.-Mexico border organized a rope brigade to ford its muddy waters. (AP Photo/Oliver de Ros)

A Honduran migrant, part of a caravan trying to reach the U.S., hits the shield of a federal policeman after storming the Guatemalan checkpoint to enter Mexico, in Ciudad Hidalgo, Mexico October 19, 2018. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Migrants bound for the U.S.-Mexico border wait on a bridge that stretches over the Suchiate River, connecting Guatemala and Mexico, in Tecun Uman, Guatemala, Friday, Oct. 19, 2018. The entry into Mexico via the bridge has been closed. The U.S. president has made it clear to Mexico that he is monitoring its response. On Thursday he threatened to close the U.S. border if Mexico didn't stop the caravan. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

A migrant bound for the U.S.-Mexico border holds up a sign with a message that reads in Spanish: "To emigrate is not a crime, let's be free, without borders," on a bridge that stretches over the Suchiate River, connecting Guatemala and Mexico, in Tecun Uman, Guatemala, Friday, Oct. 19, 2018. The entry into Mexico via the bridge has been closed. The U.S. president has made it clear to Mexico that he is monitoring its response. On Thursday he threatened to close the U.S. border if Mexico didn't stop the caravan. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

Aerial view of a Honduran migrant caravan heading to the US, as it reaches the Guatemala-Mexico international bridge in Tecun Uman, Guatemala on October 19, 2018. - Honduran migrants who have made their way through Central America were gathering at Guatemala's northern border with Mexico on Friday, despite President Donald Trump's threat to deploy the military to stop them entering the United States. (Photo by Carlos ALONZO / AFP)

Aerial view of a Honduran migrant caravan heading to the US, on the Guatemala-Mexico international bridge in Ciudad Hidalgo, Chiapas state, Mexico, on October 19, 2018. - Honduran migrants who have made their way through Central America were gathering at Guatemala's northern border with Mexico on Friday, despite President Donald Trump's threat to deploy the military to stop them entering the United States. (Photo by PEDRO PARDO / AFP)

As Trump calls US-bound migrant ‘caravan’ a national emergency, a look at the word’s humble origins

Central American migrants – mostly Honduran – in a caravan heading to the United States on November 11. Picture: AFP

A64RGF Arab caravan crossing a stream in the Sahara Desert. Hand-colored woodcut

[25NOVEMBER2018 LANGUAGE MATTERS POST MAGAZINE]

CREDIT: ALAMY

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Thousands of migrants from Honduras aim to cross Guatemala and Mexico and walk all the way to the United States
Many are desperate to escape poverty, unemployment, gang and drug violence and the aftermath of two devastating hurricanes



Thousands of Hondurans set off last week in the first migrant caravan of 2021, after the pandemic and two hurricanes devastated the economy.


US immigration

Poverty

Human rights