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Thousands of Central American migrants defied Donald Trump and crossed the international bridge that connects Guatemala to Mexico, where they clashed with riot police in an attempt to continue their journey north.
Sing the Honduran national anthem by chanting "Yes. we could! "The crowd of about 3,000 people – including entire families pushing wheelchairs and strollers – has crossed the bridge over the Suchiate muddy river.
Locals applauded and distributed bottles of water, while Guatemalan police stood next to
Ivys Osorio, 31, said he was trying to return to Houston, where he lived 16 years before being deported in 2016 – and where his wife still lives. "I thought they would not let us go through – but now I feel closer to her," he said.
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The ] #CaravanaDeMigrantes will break the bar that impedía el paso hacia migración y avanzan. pic.twitter.com/dchd3n8jml
An army helicopter hovered on the north bank of the river, where the mob crashed into a line of Mexican police with riot shields, who fired pepper spray
Dramatic scenes took place a week after the departure of a group of migrants from the Honduran city of San Pedro Sula, to escape the misery and the violence that has transformed their country into one of the most dangerous countries in the world.
Exhausted protesters had spent the night under rainy skies on the streets and in a park in the border town of Tecún Umán, where migrant shelters and a local Catholic parish were at full capacity.
aware of Trump's attempts to deter the caravan by threatening to reduce aid payments and deploy troops to the US border.
"I think he's just scaring people," said Heidy Bonilla, 19, who was shaking his six-month-old son, Jeyden. Bonilla had joined the caravan with her mother Mayra, 52; Like many migrant women, the two women were trying to escape domestic violence.
"God has the last word – he alone can decide what happens next."
What was waiting for them on the other side of the border was uncertain.
The Mexican government has stated that only migrants with appropriate documentation will be allowed to enter the country. country, although anyone wishing to apply for asylum is free to do so. On Friday morning in Tecún Umán, representatives of the UN refugee agency were distributing leaflets explaining how to claim refugee status in Mexico.
Mexico received 14,596 applications in 2017, more than six times more than in 2014, but half of the claims made last year remain unresolved, prompting the National Human Rights Commission to warn of "the imminent collapse of the refugee protection system in Mexico".
Mexico seemed to be trying to avoid repetition of a previous migrant caravan, which had formed at Easter and had grown, drawing the attention of the conservative American media – and of Trump
One of the organizers of this caravan, Irineo Mujica. , a double Mexican-American citizen, was arrested during a peaceful protest Thursday. A video on social media showed him stuck in a van from the immigration institute while protesters resisted.
Late Thursday, Trump retweeted a video of the Mexican Federal Police arriving at the Guatemalan border and wrote, "Thank you Mexico, we look forward to working with you! "
But for many in the caravan, Trump's hostility seemed illogical.
" Latinos are the base of the United States; it needs people like us, "said Carlos Orellana, 23, who was heading north looking for a welder job.
Illegal immigration to the United States from Mexico is much lower than in the early 2000s, but families are fleeing the "Northern Triangle" formed by Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador to escape poverty, violence and the first effects of climate change.
Carlos Omar Caballeros, 48, was traveling with his 17-year-old daughter who did not know it. want to be named because they were fleeing threats and extortion from one of the many street gangs that dominate the area.
He mocked Trump's threat to suspend badistance to the Honduran cabinet of President Juan Orlando Hernández, re-elected. in December amid allegations of widespread election fraud. Like many Hondurans, Caballeros blames the United States for supporting the military coup against the country's elected government in 2009.
"They destabilize our country, our economy, and protect the corrupt, who keep everything the money sent by the United States. It does not matter if we stop aid – we never see it, "he said.
Caballeros pbaded his hand through his white hair, then wiped tears of anger. "All we want is to come out of this hell we lived in San Pedro [Sula]," he declared.
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