TEGUCIGALPA.- Hundreds of people, mainly Venezuelans, left this Saturday on foot from Honduras towards Guatemala, in the first migrant caravan of 2024 that seeks to reach the United States from the Central American country, authorities reported.
“The movement is approximately 500 to 600 people, the majority are Venezuelans,” Alejandra Mena, spokesperson for the Guatemalan Migration Institute, told AFP.
Mena also stated that this is the first migrant caravan that will try to cross the Guatemalan border so far this year.
According to local media, the caravan left on foot from a bus terminal in San Pedro Sula, where they had gathered the day before.
From that city in northern Honduras, the migrants, including women with young children, head to Corinto, a town on the border with Guatemala.
From Honduras to the American dream
“This is a mixed migratory flow made up of migrants of different nationalities,” wrote Allan Alvarenga, executive director of the National Migration Institute of Honduras, on X, former Twitter.
Since 2028, Honduran migrants have formed caravans of thousands of people to try to cross Guatemala and Mexico towards the United States.
These groups are usually joined by other migrants, mainly Venezuelans, who arrive from South America and who also seek the so-called “American dream.”
Some have crossed the inhospitable Panamanian jungle of Darién, on the border with Colombia, a route through which more than half a million migrants passed in 2023, burdened by poverty, violence and lack of opportunities in their countries.
However, the last few times they have tried to enter Guatemala they have been repressed by the police.
“Five times I have left because there is no work, I have to find a life there,” Honduran Wilfredo Bonilla told the Televicentro channel.
“We are all going to arrive together as a family, we are going to arrive safely,” responded another of the migrants, identified as Rafael.
Source: AFP
