Guatemalan police and troopers have damaged up a bunch of tons of of migrants who had spent two nights caught at a roadblock on a rural freeway
VADO HONDO, Guatemala — Guatemalan police and troopers on Monday broke up a bunch of tons of of migrants who had spent two nights caught at a roadblock on a rural freeway.
Some migrants threw rocks whereas authorities launched tear gasoline and pushed the migrants with their riot shields again down the freeway. Migrants with kids had been extra gently prodded again the best way they’d come.
The 12 months’s first migrant caravan had largely stalled two days earlier than President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration. Biden has promised to take a distinct method to immigration and although fast modifications on the U.S. border aren’t anticipated, it has created some hope in Central America.
A steep mountain and tall wall flanking the agricultural freeway have allowed Guatemalan authorities to bottle up the group that had numbered about 2,000 when it pushed into Guatemala Friday evening.
Their ranks have lowered by attrition as some migrants have agreed to be bused again to the Honduran border. A Guatemalan official repeated that provide Monday morning, telling the migrants they’d buses on the prepared for individuals who wished to return to Honduras. A smaller quantity have been forcefully despatched again after struggling with authorities who held their line with baton strikes and tear gasoline.
The first of goal of the authorities’ noon push was to reopen the freeway. Police and troopers banged their riot shields intimidatingly as an official advised the migrants to clear the freeway. The migrants scattered, however remained within the common space.
Guatemala’s immigration authorities stated Monday that one other group of about 800 migrants had been situated about 25 miles (40 kilometers) farther north alongside the freeway close to Rio Hondo. They’re additionally blocked from advancing there, however authorities stated they efficiently negotiated opening one lane of site visitors so autos may cross.
Pedro Brolo Vila, Guatemala‘s international affairs secretary, criticized Honduras’ authorities Monday for not doing extra to dissuade the caravan. He stated Guatemala had been making ready since December for this caravan, together with conferences with their counterparts in Honduras, Mexico and america.
Guatemala was “completely stunned” by Honduras’ lack of cooperation, Brolo stated. He stated Honduras had promised to place out a big contingent of safety forces to dissuade the migrants from reaching Guatemala’s border. As a substitute, Honduran safety forces accompanied the migrants “towards our borders the place regrettably we noticed how they entered violently, violating Guatemala’s territorial sovereignty.”
He additionally stated Guatemalan authorities had detected pretend COVID-19 take a look at outcomes among the many migrants who stopped to register their entrance to Guatemala.
In complete, some 8,000 to 9,000 Honduran migrants had been believed to have entered Guatemala within the 12 months’s first caravan after departing from San Pedro Sula, Honduras early Friday. Honduras has been battered by the COVID-19 pandemic and two main hurricanes that struck in November, leaving hundreds homeless. That is on high of the prevailing lack of financial alternative and protracted gang violence.
In Vado Hondo Monday, web site of the roadblock outdoors Chiquimula, migrants leaned in opposition to the wall or sat up after a fitful evening’s sleep within the brush alongside the street or on the pavement. Some migrants had drifted again to the city looking for meals or shade to attend out the stalemate.
Site visitors, particularly semi-trailers, had been backed up for miles. Locals picked their manner among the many migrants and had been allowed to cross the traces of police and troopers.
On Sunday, Guatemala’s Well being Ministry reported that 21 of the migrants who sought medical consideration at well being facilities had examined constructive for the coronavirus. The division stated the 12 males and 9 ladies wouldn’t be returned to Honduras till they endure quarantine at facilities in Guatemala.
Even when the migrants handle to seek out their approach to the Mexican border, that authorities has made a present of pressure with hundreds of Nationwide Guard members and immigration brokers ready there.
Mexico has stated it will implement its immigration legal guidelines and require an orderly crossing. One 12 months in the past, Mexican guardsmen broke up a big caravan in southern Mexico after the migrants forded the river that divides it from Guatemala.
“We’re proposing that they search a dialogue with the migrants, in Honduras, Guatemala,” President Andrés Manuel López Obrador stated Monday. “They need to attend to them in order that they don’t enter any nation by pressure.”
The president stated he additionally hopes to listen to Biden handle immigration in his inauguration speech Wednesday.
“I imagine that the time has come to observe by on the dedication to hold out immigration reform,” López Obrador stated.
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AP author Christopher Sherman in Mexico Metropolis contributed to this report.