Migrant caravan stopped
Scores of Hondurans on way to US sent home amid Trump pledge not to allow them entry
ABOUT 2 000 Honduran migrants, part of a caravan of Central Americans heading to the US, were yesterday on their way back to their home country with the help of authorities, Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales said.
Another 500 were being transported back in buses, Morales told reporters on Saturday after a meeting with his Honduran counterpart Juan Orlando Hernandez to develop a strategy on the “safe” return of the migrants.
Thousands of migrants fleeing violence and poverty had gathered over the past week on the border between Guatemala and Mexico, while US President Donald Trump vowed that they would not be allowed to enter his country.
He also threatened to cut off aid to Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador if they failed to stop migrants crossing their borders on the way to the US.
Morales estimated that 5 000 to 5 400 migrants from Honduras and other countries were on Guatemalan territory of whom 2 000 had returned.
Morales said he and Hernandez had also discussed the situation on the Guatemalan-Mexican border with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.
One migrant had died after falling from a vehicle on the road to the city of Tecun Uman, Morales added.
The caravan set off over a week ago from San Pedro Sula in Honduras, one of the most violent countries in Central America, with more people joining along the way.
Most arrived at the border on Friday after a 600km journey, with thousands camping on a bridge over the river Suchiate that divides Mexico and Guatemala.
Many were on Saturday still waiting to be allowed to officially enter Mexico, while the Mexican interior ministry said that 640 had applied for asylum. Those people were allowed to enter the country.
Others tried to cross the river on home-made rafts made of tyres, said local mayor Sonia Eloina Hernandez Aguilar.
“They’re moving and organising themselves to cross the river and continue their journey,” she said.
The Mexican foreign ministry announced on Saturday that it was planning to send 900 migrants who had crossed into Mexico over the river back to their countries. It added that officials were rescuing many of them from the river.
On Saturday, Trump repeated his threat to call in the military to seal the US border with Mexico and said there were some “very tough criminal elements” within the caravan.
Migrant Gonzalo Martinez said he was voluntarily returning to Honduras from a bridge connecting Guatemala and Mexico because he was disappointed in the unruliness of caravan members and just wanted to head home.
“We thought the caravan was passive but there were unruly people, I was disappointed,” said the 37-yearold farmer as he boarded a bus in Tecun Uman, Guatemala, to take him back to Honduras.
Martinez was referring to the clashes with police when migrants forced their way through a Guatemalan border fence and some then tried to get into Mexico, only to be prevented by Mexican police.
He said he was trying to migrate from the province of Lempira to the US because of the violence in Honduras.
“They killed some relatives; they shot my father and they also tried to kill me,” he said, adding that the $4 (R57) he earns in daily wages is not enough to feed his family of seven. Martinez was one of more than 500 Honduran migrants who voluntarily returned to their country.