New migrant caravan leaves Honduras amid pandemic

 

Hundreds of migrants began walking this Wednesday, September 30 at night from San Pedro Sula -in northern Honduras- to the border with Guatemala, using a very busy migratory route in times of COVID-19.

For weeks, a new migrant caravan was summoned -from social networks- that would leave from a San Pedro Sula bus station on October 1. However, most of the people who gathered on Wednesday decided not to wait and set out in the dead of night with backpacks and, many, with masks. The groups made their way quickly along the highway, some being assisted by drivers, while others continued walking towards the border with Guatemala.

This caravan advances only two weeks after Guatemala reopened its borders, after keeping them sealed for months to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Several governments in the region made it known that they were pending: Mexico's immigration agency said in a statement that it would enforce "safe, orderly and legal" migration and that it would do nothing to promote the formation of a migrant caravan.

For its part, the United States Embassy in Honduras assured - through its Twitter account - that migration to the United States was more difficult than ever at this time and more dangerous due to COVID-19. But the push factors that drive migrants from Central America have not diminished during the pandemic.

The new group's departure on Wednesday night was reminiscent of a migrant caravan that formed two years ago - shortly before the US midterm elections - that became an electoral issue with anti-immigrant rhetoric. In recent years, Central American irregular migrants began traveling in large groups seeking safety and, in some cases, avoiding the cost of smugglers.