The Guatemalan security forces detained and violently reprimanded thousands of Hondurans this Sunday, who intend to reach Mexico and later the United States.
According to the Efe agency, the migrants were attacked with sticks and tear gas by members of the Guatemalan Army when they tried to advance on a highway in the west of the country, where they have been stranded since Saturday night.
Hondurans are part of a migrant caravan made up of more than at least 9,000 of them, according to official calculations, that
left San Pedro Sula in different phases last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
The Guatemalan Migration Institute confirmed to journalists that "several injured people are reported," including its personnel, members of the Guatemalan Army and Honduran migrants, although without further details at the moment.
"They will not happen"
The group that is stranded is made up of around 6,000 migrants, while the other 3,000 Hondurans that make up the caravan have managed to advance in some cases and in others the crowd has been thinning or has started the journey back to their country.
The caravan illegally sneaked between the night of Friday and Saturday through the El Florido border post, in the department of Chiquimula, 200 kilometers west of Guatemala City, still very close to the border with Honduras.
The security forces imposed a police barrier late on Saturday about 20 kilometers after the El Florido border, always in Chiquimula, so the migrants are stranded without being able to advance.
At the stroke of 07:00 local time, thousands of Hondurans tried to break through the police barrier, but
were violently repressed for approximately one minute by the Guatemalan Army and the National Civil Police, forcing them to retreat.
The director of the Guatemalan Migration Institute, Guillermo Díaz, had informed part of the caravan on Saturday afternoon that "they cannot and will not pass."
The official's words were specifically recorded on the road where the migrants have been stranded since Saturday, located in the municipality of Quetzaltepeque, in the department of Chiquimula.
According to the director of the Guatemalan Migration Institute, more than 20 police checkpoints have been placed on the highway that would lead migrants from their current position in western Guatemala to the border with Mexico in the east of the country.
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"It is impossible for them to continue their route. They could already try and it was not possible to pass. The people who have already passed have already been arrested. We invite them to return to their place of origin," added Díaz on Saturday afternoon before the thousands of migrants.
The Guatemalan government had maintained its position throughout the week of not allowing thousands of Honduran migrants to enter the territory.
However, given the large number of people who gathered at the border on Friday,
the agents of the National Civil Police decided to step aside and let the crowd advance.
The authorities had warned that they will not allow migrants to enter the country if they do not meet the requirements established in this regard, especially a negative test for COVID-19.
Hondurans seek to reach the United States to have better living conditions, away from the poverty and violence that plague the Central American isthmus, especially after the pandemic and hurricanes Eta and Iota, which made landfall last November.
With information from EFE
