Ciudad Hidalgo, Mexico: Thousands of migrants who forced their way through Guatemala’s northwestern border and flooded onto a bridge leading to Mexico, where riot police battled them back, on Saturday waited at the border in the hope of continuing their journey to the United States. The caravan of mainly Honduran migrants, whose journey has triggered escalating anti-immigrant rhetoric from US President Donald Trump, on Friday surged through a series of police lines and barricades up to the final fence on Mexico’s southern border. There — at the far end of the bridge over the Suchiate River, which forms the western part of the Mexico-Guatemala border — they hurled rocks and other objects at hundreds of riot police, who responded with rubber bullets and tear gas.
Multiple migrants, federal police and journalists were wounded. “We’re running away from violence, and we arrive here and they just hit us more,” sobbed 28-year-old Marta Ornelas Cazares, who was nursing her baby — but had lost her other two children, aged 10 and 15, in the turmoil. “I don’t know what happened, I thought we were going to cross peacefully and then suddenly there were rocks flying and tear gas,” she said. “We haven’t eaten, the soldiers just sent us some water,” Marina Alvarado, 48, said. “We are imprisoned here, like animals. Please, open the door,” she pleaded.
Mexican authorities insisted the undocumented migrants would have to file asylum claims one at a time in order to enter the country.
They began letting them through in a trickle — first women and children, who were ushered onto trucks and taken to shelters. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto described the situation as “unprecedented.”
“Violent entry into the country not only threatens our sovereignty, but also puts the migrants themselves at risk,” Pena Nieto said in a video published on his social media profiles. He added Mexico remains willing to support migrants who enter the country and respect its laws.
The migrants are generally fleeing poverty and insecurity in Honduras, where powerful street gangs rule their turf with brutal violence.
With a homicide rate of 43 per 100,000 citizens, Honduras is one of the most violent countries in the world. “We’re staying here until they open this fence,” said Adonai Sanchez, 36, who was travelling with his three nephews, aged two, three and 14.
Others returned to the Guatemalan side late on Friday, where shelters have been providing them food and water. The scene remained tense at the final border barrier, a tall fence of white metal bars. Chanting “Yes we can!” and “Mexico! Mexico!” migrants earlier climbed or tore down a series of barriers, flooding across the bridge. Various caravans had been travelling by bus or on foot from Honduras, converging in recent days on the town of Tecun Uman, Guatemala, near the border bridge. — AFP
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