At least 3,000 Hondurans took to the road on foot Friday, January 15, forming a human caravan in hopes of entering the United States and finding a better life there, despite restrictions imposed by Guatemala and Mexico on their way. .
Read also: Honduras: a new caravan of migrants in pursuit of the "American dream"
The bulk of the crowd left shortly after 04:00 local time from San Pedro Sula, 180 km north of Tegucigalpa, towards Agua Caliente, which borders Guatemala, a journey of about 260 km.
A first contingent of 300 people had already taken to the road Thursday.
The economic situation of many inhabitants of the Central American country, already subject to violence by gangs and drug traffickers, has deteriorated further with the passage of two powerful hurricanes in November and the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic.
"
My dream is to arrive in the United States, to buy myself a small house, because I'm tired of living here renting and working for other people
", tells AFP Melvin Fernandez, a taxi driver from the port of La Ceiba who left with his wife and three children aged 10, 15 and 22.
Norma Pineda, 51, found herself "
on the streets
" after hurricanes ETA and Iota.
"
We are leaving because there is no work here, the authorities are not helping us, we need food, clothes ...
”, she says.
Read also: Trump's Great Wall on the Mexican border
Migrants march in columns along the roads, backpacking, most with their faces covered in masks due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Guatemala requires migrants to cross the border to present valid identity documents and a negative PCR test.
A hundred Hondurans have already been turned away Thursday for lack of test.
Many migrants want to believe that President Joe Biden, who will be sworn in on Wednesday, will ease US migration policy, even though Washington has already warned them.
“
Don't waste your time and money and risk your safety and health,
” Acting United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Acting Commissioner Mark A. Morgan said Thursday.
For its part, the Mexican government has warned that it “
will not allow the illegal entry (into its territory) of caravans of migrants
”.
Some 500 police officers have been dispatched to the border with Guatemala.
More than a dozen migrant caravans have left Honduras since October 2018, but all have clashed with the thousands of US border guards and military personnel positioned on the southern border with Mexico by President Donald Trump.
/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/CQSZWCMFFEISWLLJKA76I3TGKA.jpg)
/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/PFCASL26NJGBTAP7F55QP67V3I.jpg)
