Thread: Honduran migrants in new US-bound caravan enter Guatemala

Honduran migrants in new US-bound caravan enter Guatemala

by Noe LEIVA, AFP•January 15, 2020

Corinto (Honduras) (AFP) - Hundreds of people in the vanguard of a new migrant caravan from Honduras forced their way across the border with Guatemala on Wednesday, intent on reaching the United States.

Thousands of Central American migrants have been braving the risk of extortion, kidnap and even murder as they flee poverty and gang violence in their homelands in a bid to reach the American dream, much to the annoyance of US President Donald Trump.

Around 400 men, women and children who set out from the northern Honduran town of San Pedro Sula on Tuesday, massed near the border town of Corinto on Wednesday.

The crowd refused to register with the migration services and forced their way through a line of border police to the Guatemalan side.
"There is no work here, the government has abandoned us," 26-year-old Honduran Antony Gomez told AFP.

Other migrants who arrived later in small groups were temporarily blocked at the border. Police allowed some of them through, though they prohibited families with small children from passing.

Hundreds later regrouped to march northwards behind a blue and white Honduran flag.

Nearly 1,000 people had assembled in San Pedro Sula the night before, a human rights activist told AFP.

"Right now we're close to 1,000 people but there are buses arriving from different parts of the country," Bartolo Fuentes, a journalist, human rights defender and former lawmaker told AFP on Tuesday night.

The government accused him of organizing the first such caravan in October 2018, a charge he denies.

The fresh caravan formed despite recent immigration agreements imposed by the Trump administration on Guatemala and El Salvador to curb northwards migration.

Under a deal with Guatemala, migrants who want to seek asylum in the United States but travel through Guatemala must first request protection in the Central American country.

The agreement designated Guatemala a "safe third country" -- allowing US authorities to deport some El Salvadoran and Honduran asylum seekers there -- and was condemned by international human rights groups

Many international observers say the country -- with 60 percent poverty -- is in no shape to welcome refugees but simply signed the agreement under intense US pressure.

Washington has reached a similar deal with El Salvador.

The migrants congregated in parks and the central metro station in San Pedro Sula, which is located around 180 kilometers (110 miles) north of the capital Tegucigalpa, under a light drizzle

Would-be migrants, "mostly from rural areas," according to Fuentes, were alerted to the caravan through social media messages, which were then picked up by television channels.

"Here there's no work for anyone. I was studying ... but for nothing because there are many graduates with the diploma under their arm but without finding work," Yoly Sabillon, 28, told AFP.

Before joining the caravan she left her three children aged three, seven and 13 with her mother.

More than 2,000 Hondurans took part in the original caravan which headed north through Guatemala and then Mexico.

At least three more caravans formed during the first few months of 2019, leading Trump to threaten punitive measures against Central American governments if they did not stem the tide.

Trump sent 6,00 troops to the southern border with Mexico and warned of an "invasion" of "gang members" and "criminals."
Around 30,000 Honduran migrants remain in Mexico waiting for a response to their US asylum requests.

https://news.yahoo.com/1-000-hondura...142453927.html

KEEP THEM OUT!

GO TO THE COUNTRIES WHO SIGNED THE "MIGRATION PACT". USA DID NOT SIGN IT!

Guatemala faces migration test with new Honduras caravan

January 15, 2020, 5:59 PM EST







Guatemala faces migration test with new Honduras caravan


A new migrant caravan has formed in one of Central America’s most violent cities. Hundreds of people on Wednesday left San Pedro Sula in Honduras with the aim of reaching the U.S. border. Juan Hernandez is one of them: (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) SAN PEDRO SULA IMMIGRANT, JUAN HERNANDEZ, SAYING: "We have obligations in our homes.


We can't give our children a better future, a better education, so we have no choice but to emigrate.”


But first, the migrants must cross into neighboring Guatemala, where - just hours before they started walking - conservative President Alejandro Giammattei took his oath of office.


Guatemala’s brand new president - now facing a major test of his ability to impose immigration controls sought by the United States. And on his first day in office, he had a call scheduled with President Donald Trump. Giammattei inherited a contentious deal that his predecessor struck with Washington designed to make migrants from Honduras and El Salvador seek asylum in Guatemala rather than the United States.


But immigrants like Luis Sorto say, they won’t settle for anything less than America:


(SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) SAN PEDRO SULA IMMIGRANT, LUIS SORTO, SAYING: “Our desire is to go to the United States to work. We want to work, improve our life. We don't want to be stuck in one place. We want to fight, fight for our goals, work. We have family in Honduras that need help."


San Pedro Sula was the departure point for a large caravan in 2018 that angered Trump and prompted him to press Central American governments to do more to contain migration.


On Wednesday - Giammattei said Mexico was determined to halt the caravan's advance... but Giammattei said he would allow the caravan to enter Guatemala provided migrants had the required paperwork. Still - tensions flared.


Officials say Honduran police fired tear gas when a group tried to cross without passing through migration controls.


More than a dozen people who reached the Guatemalan side were detained and sent back.



https://www.yahoo.com/news/guatemala-faces-migration-test-honduras-225829211.html

1,000 Honduran migrants preparing new US-bound caravan,30,000 already in Mexico