Guatemala, Jan 24 (Prensa Latina) Guatemala put up an armored wall to stop the first caravan of illegal Honduran migrants of 2021 with unprecedented repression by police forces and the Army, that did not hesitate to contain with batons and tear gas a human tide on the verge of despair.
A hitherto unimportant place, kilometer 177 in Vado Hondo, department of Chiquimula, will go down in history as the point where on two occasions anti-riot police charged against thousands of people stranded there, after abruptly bursting through the El Florido border on Friday 15.
On Sunday 17 the clashes began, some migrants managed to break through the barrier, but the bulk failed to cross through; then they tried again a second time but unsuccessfully.
The Government of Alejandro Giammattei was very clear this time by warning that they would only pass in an orderly and regular manner, with identification documents or passports in order and a negative Covid-19 test in hand due to the ongoing pandemic.
Since Thursday, January 14, seven departments (provinces) have been put under alert allegedly to safeguard the health of their inhabitants from the transit of the caravan, and at least 10 checkpoints have been activated to close passage of migrants.
With military checkpoints along the way, and with no help from locals or carriers that usually overtook them on the road, the large wave of Hondurans, estimated at nine thousand at the beginning, began to fall apart in Vado Hondo, also victims of fatigue, forced eviction and calls to take the road back in trucks at their disposal.
Small groups are still in transit, but according to the Migration Department, as of January 19, 2,631 had voluntarily returned to Honduras and 1,030 remained in that institutional unit.
mh/mem/dfm/mmc
On Sunday 17 the clashes began, some migrants managed to break through the barrier, but the bulk failed to cross through; then they tried again a second time but unsuccessfully.
The Government of Alejandro Giammattei was very clear this time by warning that they would only pass in an orderly and regular manner, with identification documents or passports in order and a negative Covid-19 test in hand due to the ongoing pandemic.
Since Thursday, January 14, seven departments (provinces) have been put under alert allegedly to safeguard the health of their inhabitants from the transit of the caravan, and at least 10 checkpoints have been activated to close passage of migrants.
With military checkpoints along the way, and with no help from locals or carriers that usually overtook them on the road, the large wave of Hondurans, estimated at nine thousand at the beginning, began to fall apart in Vado Hondo, also victims of fatigue, forced eviction and calls to take the road back in trucks at their disposal.
Small groups are still in transit, but according to the Migration Department, as of January 19, 2,631 had voluntarily returned to Honduras and 1,030 remained in that institutional unit.
mh/mem/dfm/mmc
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