Tensions are mounting on the border between Guatemala and Mexico, where hundreds of Central American migrants forced their way on Monday, January 20, before being repulsed by the Mexican National Guard. Leaving six days earlier from Honduras, a caravan of more than 3,000 people en route to the United States defies the migration policy of the Mexican president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (known as "AMLO"), who enlisted in Washington to curb the flow of undocumented migrants.
The migrants crossed the low water of the Suchiate river Monday at midday, declining at this time of the year, which separates the city of Tecun Uman, in Guatemala, from Ciudad Hidalgo, in Mexico. They then clashed with tear gas from law enforcement. Some have responded by throwing stones. About 400 of them managed to get through Mexican soil. Most were arrested a few kilometers away.
By dawn, they had gathered en masse on the border bridge overhanging the Suchiate, barred by gates and numerous national guards. Some carried children in their arms. Migrant representatives then gave agents of the Mexican Institute of Migration (INM) a letter to "AMLO" asking to continue their journey to the United States. The INM's negative response convinced some to cross the border by the river.
Employment opportunities
This is the second attempt to forcefully force these migrants, most of them Hondurans, Salvadorans and Guatemalans, stranded at the border since Saturday. The Mexican interior ministry had warned that no passes would be issued to them. On the other hand, job opportunities in the south of the country have been offered to them, provided that they remain legally in Mexico. A proposal accepted on Sunday by 1,087 migrants, according to the INM. The rest were determined to continue their journey to the United States.
Leaving Tuesday, January 14, from the city of San Pedro Sula, in northern Honduras, this caravan is the first since the signing, in early June 2019, of a migration agreement between Mexico and Washington. The latter had allowed the Mexican government to escape the threats of customs taxes made by the American president, Donald Trump, if his neighbor to the south did not block the passage of illegal immigrants. "AMLO" gave in, deploying 21,000 national guards on the northern and southern borders of Mexico.
