Download
Guatemalan military clears U.S.-bound migrant caravan from road
CGTN
02:27

Guatemala's security forces on Monday cleared a road of hundreds of people in a mostly Honduran migrant caravan that had camped out overnight when authorities barred it from advancing toward the United States.

The Guatemalan government said the road in the eastern part of the country reopened to traffic after troops with batons and plastic shields closed in on the migrants just beyond the village of Vado Hondo, about 35 miles (56 kilometers) from border crossings into Honduras and El Salvador.

With soldiers looking on, groups of migrants, many with young children and carrying bags and luggage, then waited in lines to board buses returning them to the El Florido border crossing with Honduras, video footage on social media showed.

The removal of the large groups was the latest effort by Guatemalan authorities to break up the caravan, which authorities said numbered close to 8,000 people, within hours of its departure for the U.S. from Honduras early Friday.

About 2,000 of the migrants installed themselves on the road after they clashed with Guatemalan security forces on Sunday during a failed effort to make their way forward.

Some people were injured as troops forced the crowd off the road, said Andres Gomez, a Guatemalan in the caravan.

"This isn't a war. It's a caravan with women and children. The soldiers have no right to beat anyone," he said. "There are women who've been beaten, it's an act of violence."

Ruben Tellez, a spokesman for Guatemala's military, later defended soldiers' use of force, describing it as minimal and proportionate.

"Their right to migrate is being respected so long as they prove that their entry into the country complies with migratory and sanitary requirements," Tellez told Reuters, referring to valid identification documents as well as a negative COVID-19 test in the past 48 hours.

After the clearance, groups of migrants went back into Vado Hondo looking for alternative routes, the government said. It was unclear how many were turning back together.

White House change

Many of the migrants say they are fleeing poverty and lawlessness in a region rocked by the coronavirus pandemic and two devastating hurricanes in November.

Late on Sunday, Guatemalan authorities said they had sent more than 1,500 migrants back home since Friday, most of them to Honduras.

The year's first migrant caravan had largely stalled two days before U.S. President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration on Wednesday. Biden has promised to take a different and more humane policy to immigration and even though immediate changes at the U.S. border are not expected, it has created some hope in Central America.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Monday warned migrants not to try to enter countries by force, and said he was in touch with both the outgoing and incoming U.S. administrations over the migrant caravan.

Even if the migrants manage to find their way to the Mexican border, that government has made a show of force with thousands of National Guard members and immigration agents waiting there.

Lopez Obrador said he was hopeful that Biden would carry out an immigration reform and work with Mexico and Central America on a plan that could provide alternatives to migration.

Guatemalan Foreign Minister Pedro Brolo said on Monday he was surprised that Honduras did not want to collaborate in stopping the caravan, citing earlier joint discussions on it.

The head of the Honduran border police, Julian Hernandez, said more than 800 security officials had tried to stop the caravan at the Guatemalan border, but migrants pushed through the barrier, some using children "as shields."

(Cover image: Hondurans taking part in a new caravan of migrants, set to head to the United States, gather in front of police officers blocking the road in Vado Hondo, Guatemala, January 18, 2021. /Reuters)

(With input from Reuters, AP)

Search Trends