Mexico opens border to women and children of Honduran migrant caravan – Internationale

The Mexican authorities opened their border this Saturday to allow the women and children who make up a caravan of migrants from Honduras to pbad, seeking to alleviate the hardship of thousands of people crammed into the bridge connecting Mexico with Guatemala .

The Mexican Ambbadador to Guatemala, Luis Manuel Lopez, told AFP that these people would be registered by migrants from Mexico and spend the night at a migration station to be taken to a shelter in the city of Tapachula, about 40 kilometers from Ciudad Hidalgo

"Happy, happy, finally happy!" Gina Paola Montes, 21, shouted as she ran along the pedestrian crossing of the Mexican Territory border bridge, guarded by the riot police.

Montes is one of the first group of migrants allowed to cross the border.

Between emotion and fatigue, one of the women fainted, causing worry and crying of family members traveling with her, AFP reporters observed.

"I came out of a nightmare," Montes told AFP, referring to the makeshift camp they had installed on the bridge waiting to cross the Mexican border.

But once on Mexican territory, the uncertainty is revived. . Eva Hernández, a 42-year-old Honduran activist, said the promise would be to get a refugee permit and a safe place to stay.

"We'd better find this shelter today," warned the woman from the bars of the fence. .

The immigration office is located about 200 meters from the international bridge.

"They have us with a double hope: to allow us to move to Tapachula or to deport ourselves, there only God knows, then we have hope and disappointment at the same time," says Montes leaving behind his enthusiasm initial.

– Resisting on the Bridge –

Migrants who stay on the bridge, behind the border gate, are still suffering from the heat and hunger that fuel their desperation. [19659002] Earlier, there were rumors that a group was attempting to forcibly enter the Mexican zone, repeating the episode on Friday when police used tear gas and rubber bullets. jostling of nationals from the border with Guatemala.

] The crowd tries to organize to avoid excesses, some young people forming human barriers to prevent a new rush. "The united peoples will never be defeated!", They cry to encourage them.

Others managed to open a metal fence on the bridge and climb with ropes on bags containing oranges and other foods, especially for children. the stream of the Suchiate River.

In some areas of the bridge, garbage and dirty clothing accumulate besieged by flies.

The first night of waiting on the international bridge pbaded between jolts for the thousands of Central Americans crammed near the river. border barrier

– "Better to return" –

Before the uncertainty, dozens of Central Americans who were in the city center of the Guatemalan city of Tecún Umán decided to return to their country in buses provided by the government, AFP.

On Friday, the President of Mexico, Enrique Peña Nieto, described the incident at his border as "an unprecedented situation" and warned that his country would not allow it to be irregularly managed and " much less violently. "

The exodus was sharply criticized by US President Donald Trump, who threatened Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador for depriving them of any financial aid. they contain illegal migration.

The Hondurans left in a caravan in the city of San Pedro Sula a week ago after a call posted on social networks.

It is estimated that more than 4,000 people attended the call and the following days they crossed Guatemala on foot and on board any vehicle blocking the march.

Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández announced that he had spoken to his Guatemalan counterpart, Jimmy Morales, to send him. Buses for migrants who want to return to Honduras

"It's better to come back, it's very difficult, there is a lot of mess," said to AFP Byron Rivera, 25 years old, hoping to get on a bus.

A Guatemalan police officer said that during the early hours of the afternoon some 220 Hondurans had returned to their country and 130 others had been waiting in a shelter in the local municipality.

During the trip, Hondurans spent long days hiking under intense sun and torrential rains.

But they also found solidarity with the Guatemalan people who provided them with food, water and shelter.

Before the tragedy, the Mexican priest Alejandro Solalinde, defender of the undocumented, repudiated in his social networks the closing of the border and launched an emergency call for the Hondurans stranded in the zone located between Guatemala and the Mexico.