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In Pictures: Guatemala toughens stance on migrant caravan

Under pressure from Donald Trump, Guatemala halted more than 3,000 migrants set for the US, saying they posed a health risk.

Migrants ride on the back of a freight truck in Rio Dulce, Guatemala. [Moises Castillo/AP Photo]
By AP
Published On 7 Oct 2020

The Guatemalan government’s decision to halt more than 3,000 Honduran migrants who had set out for the United States amid the coronavirus pandemic, signalled that US pressure on immigration continues to extend southward.

Previously, Guatemala did little to stop large movements of migrants crossing its territory. But President Alejandro Giammattei threatened last week to send the latest group back, saying they posed a health risk because of the coronavirus. Over the weekend Guatemala followed through, hauling 3,300 migrants back to the Honduran border.

“The border has definitely moved,” said Ursula Roldan, an immigration expert at Rafael Landivar University in Guatemala City. “We already knew the pandemic would be a pretext for states to focus on migrants as an issue of security and health.”

Guatemala’s tougher stance followed Mexico’s hardened efforts that broke up caravans last October and in January at its southern border. Mexico deployed the National Guard during the summer of 2019 to help slow immigration after US President Donald Trump threatened tariffs on all Mexican imports if the Mexican government did not stop the caravans.

Michael Kozak, acting assistant secretary for the US Department of State’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, went on Twitter to thank Guatemala “for the sustained efforts to mitigate the spread of #Covid19 and stop irregular migration.”

With the US effectively suspending its asylum system at the border and legal crossing reduced to essential traffic, the migrants already faced long odds of entering. But Guatemala’s more assertive position erects yet another set of obstacles at a time when the factors pushing migrants to head north like a lack of job opportunities at home have worsened during the pandemic.

On Thursday, hundreds of Honduran migrants pushed past Guatemalan authorities at the border without registering. That night, President Giammattei raised the spectre of them spreading the coronavirus and said they would be rounded up.

Guatemala’s strategy was similar to the one Mexico used earlier. Both avoided potentially dangerous confrontations at the border itself. Instead, interior roadblocks were used to break up large groups, and migrants were left to walk and tire themselves out before authorities moved against them en masse.

By Saturday, the largest groups in Guatemala had been bused back to the border with Honduras.

Migrants attempt to cross the border from Corinto, Honduras, into Corinto, Guatemala. [AP Photo]
Soldiers stand in El Cinchado, Guatemala, on the border with Honduras. [Moises Castillo/AP Photo]
Guatemala vowed to detain and return members of a new caravan of about 2,000 migrants that set out from neighbouring Honduras in hopes of reaching the United States, saying they represent a health threat amid the coronavirus pandemic. [Moises Castillo/AP Photo]
Honduran migrants walk in Puerto Barrios, Guatemala. [Moises Castillo/AP Photo]
Over the weekend Guatemala followed through, busing 3,300 migrants back to the Honduran border. [Moises Castillo/AP Photo]
A soldier tucks a wooden stick into the back of his uniform as he stands guard in El Cinchado, Guatemala. [Moises Castillo/AP Photo]
An Honduran migrant and her daughter sit at a roadblock set up by security forces in Poptun. Guatemala’s tougher stance followed Mexico’s hardened efforts that broke up caravans last October and in January at its southern border. [Moises Castillo/AP Photo]
Honduran migrants sleep on the road at a security forces roadblock in Poptun. [Moises Castillo/AP Photo]
Security forces block Honduran migrants' way in Poptun, Guatemala. [Moises Castillo/AP Photo]
A Honduran migrant sits at a border police station in Corinto, Honduras, after he turned around and left behind the group of migrants he was traveling with in Guatemala. [Moises Castillo/AP Photo]