A caravan of 4,500 migrants travels on foot from Honduras, broke the border in Guatemala and continues on its way to the United States.

At least 4,500 migrants traveling on foot from Honduras to the United States managed to overcome their first obstacle, the border line with Guatemala, after breaking through a police fence shouting “we want to pass”, and they keep alive the dream of a better life under the next President Joe Biden.

The decision not to confront the migrants, according to a police officer, was made after finding that in the group there were many families with minors. Using tear gas with children in the dark could have been fatal, he said. The policemen did not carry firearms.

Since the afternoon of this Friday, waves of walkers gathered on the Honduran side of the border, after beginning their journey at dawn in the city of San Pedro Sula. Some had shortened the road by getting into trucks or vehicles on the highway.

Entire families travel in the caravan, with dozens of children. (AP / Delmer Martinez)

At the border, a first line of Honduran police defeated first. Then they advanced in human chains to where the Guatemalan guard awaited them. There the authorities clarified that only those who had their documents in order and a negative test of covid-19 could pass.

But despite the fact that many did not carry the covid test, the migrants pressed the march, and after an initial struggle they managed to enter without confrontations.

“We are not leaving here until they let us through, we are going to go on a hunger strike, we have no work or food, so I decided to travel to the United States,” Dania Hinestrosa, 23, had said shortly before, waiting to cross with a of his little daughters. She left behind another three-year-old daughter and four-year-old twins, says the young woman, who worked as a domestic worker.

Guatemala is under a “state of prevention” in seven departments, which allows it to dissolve public agglomerations even “by force.” The crowd is expected to stop for the night to continue on Saturday.

On their way, they will still run into several police controls within Guatemala before reaching the border with Mexico, which has already announced that “it will not allow the irregular entry of caravans of migrants” and deployed 500 agents in Chiapas and Tabasco, border states with Guatemala.

More than 4,000 people left Honduras on foot on their way to the United States (AP / Delmer Martinez) 

Fleeing the crisis

Migrants say they are fleeing a Honduras hard hit by the passage of two hurricanes in November and the lack of employment caused by the pandemic, which add to the endemic evils of a country riddled with violence associated with gangs and drug trafficking.

In the long march, most carry backpacks, pandemic masks and Honduran flags.

“We go with a broken heart. In my case, I leave my family. My husband and my three children stay ”, lamented Jessenia Ramírez, 36 years old. “We are looking for a better future, a job so that we can send a few pennies” to Honduras, he added.

Many participants in this caravan are convinced that the president-elect of the United States, Joe Biden, who takes office on January 20, will be more flexible than his predecessor, Donald Trump, with the immigration rules.

But Washington has already ruled out the possibility of special treatment for the group, which includes people of all ages and entire families. “Don’t waste your time and money and don’t risk your health and safety.” “It’s a deadly trip,” said Acting Commissioner of the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Mark A. Morgan.

(AFP) 

The “coyotes”

The Honduran Vice Foreign Minister, Nelly Jeréz, acknowledged that “people are looking for an improvement in the quality of life”, something to which “we all have the right”, but suggested a “regular, orderly and safe migration”, and denounced the people “ unscrupulous ”that charges to guide migrants.

Since 2019, Honduras has detained 293 of the so-called “coyotes”, persons accused of organizing migrant crossings through unauthorized passages. At least three were detained in this caravan, Jeréz said.

A child cries as Honduran migrants heading to the border with Guatemala march in the municipality of El Florido, in the Honduran department of Copán, on January 15, 2021 on their way to the United States (AFP) 

Meanwhile, El Salvador authorities detained three people, accused of organizing another caravan bound for the United States for profit.

More than a dozen caravans, some with thousands of migrants, have left Honduras since October 2018, but have encountered thousands of US military and border guards positioned on the southern border with Mexico by President Donald Trump.

Migrants heading to the border with Guatemala on their way to the United States, march in the municipality of Santa Rita, in the Honduran department of Copán, on January 15, 2021.

However, through calls on social networks they insist on making this long journey that, if completed, will have made them travel more than 5,000 km.

More from Author Ben Oakley here: https://globelivemedia.com/author/ben-oakley/