Migrant caravan to the US dissipates upon entering Guatemala

The caravan of hundreds of migrants who departed this Saturday from San Pedro Sula, north of Honduras, intending to enter U.S dissipated upon entering Guatemala by the controls imposed by the authorities.

Although they arrived compactly at Corinto, the border with Guatemala, they separated into small groups to enter. However, lacking an identification document or negative evidence of Covid-19 they were detained and returned to Honduran soil, observed an AFP photographer.

With few belongings in bags and backpacks, some 500 people left the large transportation terminal in San Pedro Sula, 180 km north of Tegucigalpa, heading for Corinto, where they arrived hours after a long journey on foot, buses or cars whose drivers They were transported for free.

They are looking for “a better future for the family,” said a Nicaraguan who said his name was Ovaldo and did not give his last name.

Originally from Managua, Ovaldo lamented that the situation in his country “is quite difficult,” so he traveled with his family knowing that “it is a very hard road.”

Like him, dozens of men and women, some with children, had gathered at the terminal since Friday afternoon.

At dawn about a hundred people left and with the first lights of Saturday the others began to walk along the side of the road, under a strong sun and high temperature.

“We ask God and the Honduran government, since we are still in Honduran territory, please accompany us to the border with Guatemala, not to put up any more checkpoints,” Ovaldo implored.

“We are going practically without resources, to the Guatemalan government, if you are seeing it, please let us pass, we do not want to be in the way in any of those countries, we want to continue our walk,” he told AFP.

Hondurans were joined by Nicaraguans, Haitians, Venezuelans and Africans who cross different borders through blind spots, walking towards the United States in an endless migratory stream, although the vast majority do not manage to cross from Mexico.

A 17-year-old boy who identified himself as Daniel, originally from Villanueva, 10 km from San Pedro Sula, told journalists that he emigrated due to “basically economic necessity.”

You have to “seek a better future, too difficult here, there is no good education and there is no support from the government to be able to study,” he lamented.

According to him Guatemalan Institute of Migration, police and soldiers redoubled controls in Corinto to verify that people meet the requirements for entering the country, otherwise they were prevented from transit.

The Guatemalan authorities report that some 150 people entered the country through unauthorized positions and because they lacked documents and health tests, they were prohibited from entering the country.

The last caravan of some 7,000 people left in January 2021. It was dismantled in Guatemala, when it was attacked with sticks and tear gas by hundreds of soldiers, for which the migrants had to return to Honduras.

A dozen caravans have started the march since October 2018 in San Pedro Sula. Most have failed due to blockades by US authorities.

The migrants allege the lack of opportunities to have a decent life, the violence of drug traffickers and gang members who plague them in their communities, and natural phenomena, such as floods and droughts caused by climate change.