Blocked and then dispersed by the police after only fifty kilometers traveled in Guatemalan territory, thousands of Honduran migrants seeking to reach the United States on foot have seen their dream of exile stopped by force. Like the dozen other migrant caravans that have left Honduras since October 2018, the latter, launched in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, will not achieve its objective. Neither should see the much desired border between Mexico and the United States.
Departing Friday from San Pedro Sula, industrial heart and economic engine of Honduras, some 9,000 Hondurans candidates for exodus were stopped for the first time Sunday in Vado Hondo, in eastern Guatemala, by a large police and military device. With tear gas and batons, the security forces slowed down the caravan, while a decree from President Alejandro Giammattei authorized the use of force because of the risk of epidemic contagion.
On Monday, the 4,000 migrants who had remained stationed on a border road, blocking the transit of goods since Saturday, were dispersed by new tear gas shots launched by riot police. The road was thus cleared to absorb the huge line of freight trucks that had formed on this border axis between Guatemala and Honduras.
Between stone throwing and tear gas fire, a woman carrying her young son told, breathlessly, on the Guatevision channel, that she left Honduras where she did not. “Nowhere to live”. “If we had the money to live on, we wouldn’t be here trying to go north. They treat us like dogs, it shouldn’t be like that ”another mother lamented, holding a little girl in her arms.
In addition to the 4,000 migrants who spent the night on the ground, others had already dispersed across the country while more than 1,500, including 208 children, have already returned to Honduras, migration authorities said.
All had entered Guatemala between Friday evening and Saturday morning, at the El Florido border post, 220 kilometers east of the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa. The decision to let them pass was taken because of the presence of many families with children, according to a police official. But the Guatemalan authorities had announced the obligation for all migrants to submit legal documents and a negative PCR test. According to the health ministry, 21 migrants have tested positive for coronavirus and placed in solitary confinement.
Emergency state
The candidates for the “American dream” invoke their economic situation in Honduras, subjected to the violence of gangs and drug traffickers. A situation which deteriorated further with the passage of two powerful hurricanes in November and the consequences of the pandemic. Many want to believe that Democrat Joe Biden, who will be invested on Wednesday, will ease US migration policy, even though Washington has already warned them not to lose or ” time “ or ” silver “.
Outgoing President Donald Trump on Friday declared a state of emergency on the border with Mexico, a measure first taken in February 2019. The Mexican government has also said it will not allow “Illegal entry” of migrant caravans. About 500 Mexican agents have been deployed to the border states of Chiapas and Tabasco, along with buses to bring migrants back to Honduras.
On Monday, the President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador, called for dialogue to avoid further clashes: “We are making proposals to seek dialogue with migrants (…). We must take care of them so that they do not enter any country by force ”, he told reporters.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) expressed its “Concern” concerning the use of force to stop the march of migrants. Honduras has also complained about the way its citizens have been treated by its neighbor. Guatemala has denounced a violation of its national sovereignty and urged Honduras to “Contain the massive departure of its inhabitants”.
