By Claudio Escalon - The Associated Press
Hundreds of migrants began walking Wednesday night from San Pedro Sula, a city in northern Honduras, to the Guatemalan border, using a common migration route in times of the coronavirus.
For several weeks, the calls for a new migrant caravan that would leave on October 1 from the San Pedro Sula bus station circulated on social media.
The caravan began just two weeks after
Guatemala reopened its borders, which were closed for months to stop COVID-19 infections.
[A court gives Trump free rein to end Temporary Protected Status and be able to deport more than 300,000 immigrants]
But most of the migrants gathered on Wednesday decided not to wait until October and left in the middle of the night with their backpacks in tow, many of them wearing masks.
It didn't take long for the groups to spread out along the highway.
Some got transportation, while others continued on foot to the Guatemalan border.
Governments across the region confirmed Wednesday that they were monitoring the situation.
In Mexico, the National Institute of Migration indicated in a statement that it
would monitor that a "safe, orderly and legal" migration occurred
and would not do anything to encourage the formation of a migrant caravan.
In a tweet on Wednesday, the US embassy in Honduras noted that migration to the United States was more difficult and more dangerous than ever due to COVID-19.
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But the main motivations for migrants to leave Central America have not subsided during the pandemic.
The lack of jobs and families' difficulties putting food on the table have only gotten worse.
At least 34 million jobs have been lost in Latin America due to the pandemic
, the International Labor Organization (ILO), a body under the United Nations, indicated on Wednesday.
The ILO designates Latin America and the Caribbean as the most affected region in the world in terms of lost working hours, with a decrease of 20.9% in the first three quarters of the year.
The flow of migrants leaving Central America to the north has been drastically reduced during the pandemic due to the closure of borders imposed by the governments of the region.
Most of the migrant shelters located on the main routes in Mexico closed their doors to newcomers in an attempt to prevent the virus from spreading among the vulnerable migrant population.
Mexico and the United States deported hundreds of migrants to their countries of origin in an attempt to empty the detention centers.
The US government took advantage of the pandemic to effectively freeze the asylum system on its southern border.
[Coronavirus in Honduras: doctors begin to get sick due to lack of supplies]
Mexico tried to transfer asylum seekers who were stranded on its northern border by bus to the south.
Mexico often offers the opportunity to seek asylum there, but many of the migrants are determined to travel to the United States.
In addition, they are likely to find it more difficult to find work in the country,
where the economy is expected to contract 10% this year due to the impact of the virus.
The departure of the group of migrants on Wednesday night was reminiscent of the caravan formed two years ago, shortly before the midterm elections in the United States.
It became a major campaign theme and fueled anti-immigration messages.
Under pressure from the US government, Mexico last year adopted a more aggressive strategy toward migrants.
He deployed his National Guard to intercept them on the highways and went to great lengths to prevent the huge caravans seen in previous years from forming.
Central American migrants have begun to travel in large groups in recent years, as they feel safer and, in some cases, avoid the cost of paying smugglers.