Honduran migrant caravan arrives at Guatemala border
OCOTOPEQUE, Honduras — Hundreds of Honduran migrants arrived at the Guatemalan border under a broiling sun Monday hoping to make it to new lives in the United States, far from the poverty and violence of their home nation.
Singing the Honduran national anthem, praying and chanting, “Yes, we can,” the caravan estimated at around 1,600-strong insisted they would travel on through Guatemala and Mexico despite the insistence of Guatemalan authorities that the group would not be allowed to pass.
“We have rights,” the migrants shouted.
Keilin Umana, a 21year-old who is two months pregnant, said she was moved to migrate to save herself and her unborn child after she was threatened with death.
“A letter arrived at my house saying I could not stay, that I had to leave, or else they were going to kill me,” said Umana, who is a nurse.
“I was in hiding awhile,” she added. “It’s because I have this tattoo on my hand — it’s not a gang thing. Look, it’s the name of my father and mother.”
Umana said she had been walking for four days. “We are not criminals — we are migrants,” she said.
Many in the caravan traveled light, with just backpacks and bottles of water. Some pushed toddlers in strollers or carried them on their shoulders.
Carlos Cortez, a 32-year-old farmer traveling on foot with his 7-year-old son, said the poverty back home has made it impossible to support a family.
“Every day I earn about $5,” Cortez said. “That isn’t enough to feed my family.”
The caravan was met at the border by about 100 Guatemalan police officers.
The caravan began as about 160 people who first gathered early Friday to depart from San Pedro Sula, one of Honduras’ most dangerous places, figuring that traveling as a group would make them less vulnerable to robbery, assault and other dangers common on the migratory path through Central America and Mexico.
Local media coverage prompted hundreds more to join, and Dunia Montoya, a volunteer assisting the migrants, estimated Sunday that the group had grown to at least 1,600 people.
The caravan formed a day after U.S. Vice President Mike Pence urged the presidents of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala to persuade their citizens to stay home and not put their families in danger by undertaking the risky journey to the United States.
In April, President Donald Trump threatened in April to withdraw foreign aid from Honduras and countries that allowed transit for a similar caravan that set out from the Central American country. That caravan dwindled as the group approached the U.S. border, with some giving up along the way and others splitting off to try to cross on their own.
Mexico’s Interior Ministry issued a reminder over the weekend that Mexico does not issue entry visas for those who don’t meet “the requirements to transit toward a neighboring country.” Also, Mexico said it issues visas at its consulates abroad, not at border entry points.