Migrants face the border between Guatemala and Mexico

Mexico.- A Honduran was killed Sunday by the impact of a rubber bullet fired by a man. police officers Mexicans who they tried to stop to over a thousand migrants from that country that they are trying to cross to Mexico to get to the United States, informed a humanitarian source.

During the incidents "A migrant died and they were injured migrants and agents of the National Civil Police, "said in a statement the human rights mediator of Guatemala, Jordán Rodas.

The Mexican Secretary of the Interior, Alfonso Navarrete, condemned the incident that occurred on the border bridge and said he identified "(migrants) carrying firearms and of other so-called Molotov cocktails ".

The Mexican government rejects the violence that has unfolded today at the Guatemalan border and recalls that the only way to enter Mexico is to comply with immigration laws, Navarrete said. .

He explained that some 300 migrants have already received an identity card as part of a Mexican government program, that 1,895 have already sought refuge and 422 have requested their voluntary repatriation.

More than a thousand Honduran migrants on Sunday shattered a Guatemalan police fence to prevent them from advancing on Mexican soil towards the United States.

Before the incidents, the local authorities of this population, the police, the relief corps and the Guatemalan Red Cross had issued an orange warning (prevention) not to leave their homes at night and banned alcoholic beverages.

In addition, the sale of gasoline and other flammable products is prohibited and they recommend avoiding confrontation with Honduran migrants to avoid incidents.

Better life

However, the migrants managed to cross the police barrier and bet on the international bridge that separates the Guatemalan city of Tecún Umán from the Mexican city of Hidalgo, without however entering Mexico.

In these collisions, a deceased Honduran was given a rubber bullet, confirmed Ramón Girón, chief officer of the Volunteer Fire Department in Guatemala.

The migrants They tried to remove the barriers erected by the Mexican authorities without achieving their goal, while police in that country fired tear gas canisters to disperse them.

It is not fair, we just want to cross Mexico to have a better life, we heard a migrant shouting with his face covered to protect himself from the gas.

Meanwhile, at the Tapanatepec immigration station, in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, about three dozen Hondurans and Guatemalans from a caravan that crossed the border last week boarded five trucks. At least three of them told AFP that they had asked for a voluntary return to their country.

"Here, there is nothing for us and many of us hurt our feet, we have sores, and it does not help to move forward", Resigned one of the Hondurans who left the caravan.

On the contrary, Esteban Enamorado Hernández, aged 35, said that he had joined the caravan because he had "no work nor place of residence" and that he would therefore pursue this difficult journey.

Reinforced border

An official from the Mexican state of Chiapas, where the border bridge is located, who requested anonymity, explained that the border had been reinforced by immigration staff, the gendarmerie and the navy .

There is also surveillance on the bank of the Suchiate River. It's a migration (personal or) with vehicles, only allowing those who bear the title of visitor to the regional border, he added.

"They must enter quietly and safely, they must enter the country regularly," said an agent to migrants, grouped behind the metal door leading to Mexican territory.

The surveillance of Mexican forces extends to the Suchiate River, where they are ordered to return to improvised rafts, made with tires, in which migrants attempt to enter Mexico.

Mexican authorities reiterated on Sunday that they would allow Honduran migrants to participate in the refugee program. At least 60 people have already entered its territory and it is expected that they will soon be passed on to others.

Honduran migrants are part of different groups who walk or hitchhike and seek to reach different border crossing points with Mexico, including Tecún Umán, Guatemala.

The first caravan of Hondurans, which left on October 13, crosses southern Mexico and has about 7,000 people, according to UN estimates.

In Tapanatepec, in the state of Oaxaca and where is gathered the gigantic caravan of migrants, most of them of Honduran nationality and who have attracted the attention of the media, l & # 39; 39; AFP found that a handful of migrants had started the march towards the city of Niltepec.

These migrants seek to advance despite warnings from caravan organizers that if they leave alone, they may be stopped by immigration officials.