Guatemala.
The governments of the United States, Mexico i Guatemala agreed this Friday to ban the passage of migrant caravans through its territory due to the pandemic, days after a Honduras had been forcibly dissolved in Guatemalan territory.
Guatemala to announce this day that it will strengthen controls at its borders in the face of possible new mass flows of Central American migrants to United States and has reiterated its support for promoting “safe, orderly and regular” migration.
“Migration and health controls will be maintained and strengthened at all border crossings,” Guatemalan Foreign Minister Pedro Brolo said in a joint statement with Mexican ambassadors and United States, Romeu Ruiz and William W. Popp, respectively.
The measure seeks to comply with the law, safeguard security and maintain health protocols that reduce the contagion derived from the covid-19, According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The chancellor called on “friendly countries” to “prove with facts that they will not be tolerated and any attempt to shape mass flows of people will be countered.”
“Irregular migration aggravates exponentially the dangers along migratory routes; it creates greater vulnerability in this sector of the population by promoting disorder and uncontrollability that severely affects collective security,” he warned.
According to the head of Guatemalan diplomacy, groups that migrate irregularly are constantly exposed to “harassment and transgression of their human rights to being potential victims of trafficking and it’s about people”.
Brolo thanked Mexico i United States the accompaniment and support they give to Guatemala to maintain safe, orderly and regular migration, and argued that the three countries are “joining forces to effectively combat the causes that generate irregular migration.”
The Chancellor also thanked the support of several of the United Nations agencies with which he maintains “a fluid dialogue” to “comprehensively address this phenomenon of migration, providing tickets as well as transport to return safely to these people in their countries of origin “.
More than 9,000 Hondurans left in a caravan last week from different parts of their country in order to arrive in the United States in search of better living conditions.
However, a group of 6,000 migrants was forcibly disbanded by agents of the Guatemalan National Civil Police on a road in the department of Chiquimula, in the east of the country, so it frustrated his passage to Mexico.
According to the immigration authorities, more than 4,500 Central Americans, mostly Hondurans, were returned to their respective countries between January 14 and 20 for having entered Guatemalan territory illegally.