Thousands of Central Americans from the migrant caravan await this Sunday in camps along the border of Guatemala with Mexico after having decided to postpone their entry into the US until Monday. The authorities reported that about 820 Hondurans entered Mexico under the rules established by the Government, but it was not specified where they moved.
The Guatemalan municipality of Tecún Umán estimates that there will be up to 2,500 migrants this Sunday, so they have installed extraordinary mobile camps, as the Migrant House has the capacity to serve only 400 people, Ramiro Quezada, a health specialist at the Fund of Health, told EFE the United Nations for Children (UNICEF). More than 500 migrants settled in a temporary shelter.
"It is going to depend a lot on the negotiation that the Government of Guatemala does with the Government of Mexico. What they are doing right now is negotiating to see what kind of form they have so that these people can continue the path they have thought since they left. either from Honduras or El Salvador, "the expert described.
Although the Mexican authorities were preparing to receive the massive influx of migrants this Sunday, members of the caravan told Efe that they would postpone the attempt until Monday morning because they need to rest, wait for more companions and shelter from the sun.
Some also expressed uneasiness about the alteration that occurred this Saturday with the Mexican National Guard, which restricted the passage of the Rodolfo Robles border bridge when dozens of migrants tried to push the border.
However, the National Migration Institute (INM) clarified that it would allow the passage of groups of up to 20 people, with the condition that they apply for formal asylum, as the Mexican Government has offered refuge only to those who decide to work in the southern zone from the country.
After letting about 820 Hondurans pass, the rest of the caravan members wait in Guatemala to cross harder, including many unaccompanied minors and mothers with their children, which implies the need to give them medical attention.
"What worries us are the youngest children. Here there are children of one month, two months, others of six months. There are several groups that are traveling with their families or are unaccompanied," said Quezada.
Migrants who have not crossed into Mexico, for the most part, intend to reach the United States, as they show skepticism of the promises of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who said Friday that there are 4,000 jobs available in the southern zone for immigrants and nationals.
Among them is Efraín Martínez, from the Copán region, in Honduras, from where he has walked in the hope of getting a better job in the United States, for which he needs the solidarity of his colleagues.
"It's the faith we have, to get hold of God first. What we are saying here to people is that on the walk we all go together because when we were coming, like at 2 in the morning, they ran over a young man with a van", explained.
At the moment, the National Guard of Mexico is operating in the Suchiate, Hondo and Usumacinta rivers, and in communities across the southern border, such as El Ceibo, Tenosique, El Triunfo, Reforma and Escárcega, as the INM said in a statement.
Sealed border and starvation
Some migrants who participated in previous caravans recognized that entering Mexico was one of the key points of the increasingly complicated route after the growing collaboration of Central American governments with that of US President Donald Trump. In addition, one of the leaders of the group of migrant Hondurans announced this Sunday that they will go on a hunger strike if the Mexican government does not allow them to cross the border on their way to the United States, according to El Universal.
In Guatemala, the authorities reinforced the Central American entry registers and incorporated agents of the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Control Service (ICE) into their operations. The friendly face of the government of the conservative president Alejandro Giammattei was to make medical services available to migrants, something that did not happen before.
Mexico, on the other hand, which first let the first caravan pass and then began with ever stronger containment, chose to deploy hundreds of national guards to seal the main steps of its southern border, but maintains its job offers.
Therefore, although the crossing of Ciudad Hidalgo closed on Saturday, a situation that remained on Sunday morning, and another in the jungle further east, in Tabasco - as reported by the Migrant's house known as “La 72” _ has allowed the small group entry, theoretically, for regularization but, above all, with a desire for control and containment under the official discourse that defends a "safe and orderly" migration.
Theoretically, these people could apply for asylum or take advantage of temporary jobs in the south offered by the Mexican government, but for months many migrants and non-governmental organizations have complained that the National Migration Institute does not offer adequate information and many migrants end up returned to their countries of origin without being duly informed of the legal options available to them.
In fact, although Antonio Azúcar, a Salvadoran consul, said authorities had guaranteed him that migrants who crossed and surrendered would stay in Ciudad Hidalgo with a permit to move around the southern region, a federal official who requested anonymity for not being Authorized to make statements, he told The Associated Press that they were transferred to state immigration stations. One of them, in Tuxtla, more than 400 km north.
For several groups that work with migrants that is worrisome because it is a “de facto detention” and talking about employment blurs the international protection options to which those fleeing violence or poverty are entitled, said Claudia León, coordinator of the Jesuit Refugee Service in Tapachula.
In other sectors of the southern states, however, the rejection of the government wanting to look good with Washington is increasing, increasing the presence of migrants only in the south, where there are fewer and less paid jobs.
But for the United States, the most important thing is that the reinforcement of borders, the return of asylum seekers and the threats to impose tariffs on Mexico or take aid to Central America have worked.
"Yes it's hard yes, but let's see if they give us a chance in Mexico," said Juan Antonio Ribera, a 44-year-old Honduran farmer from Olancho who on Saturday was one of those who crossed with his son in the hope that he would get one of the promised jobs.
Others were not so sure and continued with their plan to continue north. “They took all my papers in Guatemala, I have no money,” sobbed Marlon José Rodríguez, a 16-year-old Honduran who begged Mexican migration not to deport him. "I want to study and not be a criminal." And I wanted to do it in the United States.
Edited by Pelayo Escandón with information from Raúl Torres, correspondent for Telemundo News in Mexico, Associated Press and EFE.
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