Guatemalan military clears U.S.-bound migrant caravan from road

VADO HONDO, Guatemala, January 19 ------ Guatemalan security forces on Monday cleared a road of hundreds of people in a mostly Honduran migrant caravan that had camped out overnight when authorities barred it from advancing toward the United States. The Guatemalan government said the road in the eastern part of the country reopened to traffic after troops with batons and plastic shields closed in on the migrants just beyond the village of Vado Hondo, about 35 miles (56 km) from border crossings into Honduras and El Salvador.

With soldiers looking on, groups of migrants, many with young children and carrying bags and luggage, then waited in lines to board buses returning them to the El Florido border crossing with Honduras, video footage on social media showed. The removal of the large group was the latest effort by Guatemalan authorities to break up the caravan, which authorities said numbered close to 8,000 people, within hours of its departure for the United States from Honduras last week. About 2,000 of the migrants installed themselves on the road after they clashed with Guatemalan security forces on Sunday during a failed effort to make their way past them.

Some people were injured as troops forced the crowd from the road, said Andres Gomez, a Guatemalan in the caravan. “This isn’t a war. It’s a caravan with women and children. The soldiers have no right to beat anyone,” he said. “There are women who’ve been beaten, it’s an act of violence.” Ruben Tellez, a spokesman for Guatemala’s military, later defended soldiers’ use of force, describing it as minimal and proportionate. “Their right to migrate is being respected so long as they prove that their entry into the country complies with migratory and sanitary requirements,” Tellez told Reuters, referring to valid identification documents as well as a negative COVID-19 test in the past 48 hours.

After the clearance, groups of migrants went back into Vado Hondo looking for alternative routes, the government said. It was unclear how many were turning back altogether.

Source: reuters.com