‘We’re starving’: USbound migrants hunker down after crackdown

VADO HONDO: Hundreds of Honduran migrants huddled overnight on a highway in eastern Guatemala after domestic security forces used sticks and tear gas to halt the passage of a United Statesbound caravan just days before US presidentelect Joe Biden takes office.

Up to 8000 migrants have entered Guatemala since Saturday, authorities say, fleeing poverty and lawlessness in a region rocked by the coronavirus pandemic and hurricanes in November.

‘‘There’s no food or water, and there are thousands of children, pregnant women, babies, and they don’t want to let us pass,’’ a Honduran stuck at the blockade, who gave his name only as Pedro, said.

Guatemalan

authorities

say they have sent hundreds migrants back to Honduras.

A witness said about 2000 migrants were still camped out on the highway near the village of Vado Hondo, about 55km from the borders of Honduras and El Salvador, after clashing with Guatemalan security forces yesterday.

‘‘We’re starving,’’ said one Honduran mother, stuck behind

of the cordon with her 15yearold son, her 9yearold daughter and her 4yearold niece.

‘‘All we have is water and a few cookies.’’

She and other travellers had formed a prayer circle as they camped out.

Other migrants evaded the gridlock by fleeing into the hills to continue onward to the border of Mexico, where the Government has deployed police and National Guard troopers.

‘‘We ran into the mountains because I’m travelling with my 1yearold,’’ Diany Deras, another Honduran, said.

Mexico’s border with Guatemala was quiet.

‘‘All is calm here,’’ a national guardsman in charge of a border crossing directly opposite Tecun Uman, Guatemala, where caravan leaders hope to cross into Mexico, said.

The first migrant caravan of the year comes days before Biden, who has promised to adopt a more humane approach to migration than Trump, takes office on Thursday.

However a Biden transition official advised people not to make for the United States. — Reuters