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Aerial view showing migrants arriving in Mexico after crossing the Suchiate River from Tecun Uman in Guatemala City, Ciudad Hidalgo, Mexico on October 29, 2018, one day after reinforcing the security fence on the international bridge to prevent them from passing . (Credit: CARLOS ALONZO / AFP / Getty Images)
Several hundred migrants attempted Monday to cross the Suchiate river between Guatemala and Mexico en masse, but were greeted by members of the Mexican Federal Police who prevented them from entering.
The confrontation at the river's edge follows a more violent confrontation that occurred the night before on the bridge over the river, when migrants threw stones and used sticks against the Mexican police. A migrant was killed Sunday night by a head injury, but the cause was not clear.
While the migrants on the bridge seemed to be preparing for a second day of clashes Monday morning, they instead tried the route taken by the first caravan 10 days after its blocking, too: to turn to the river below.
The first, largest caravan, crossed the river wading or rafting and is now advancing into southern Mexico.
But since that passage, the Mexican Navy has started patrolling the Suchiate River and the Mexican police have taken up positions on the banks of the river, insisting that the migrants register before entering and present documents. trip that many do not have.
A Mexican helicopter hovered over a mass of several hundred migrants who had crossed the river at chest height on Monday, apparently using the downstream current of its rotors to discourage them.
Earlier on Monday, about 600 migrants had gathered on the bridge, where the Mexican Federal Police had blocked one end. The migrants had gasoline bombs made with soft drink bottles and improvised PVC tubes to fire fireworks or other projectiles.
On Sunday, the migrants crossed the border barriers on the Guatemalan side of the bridge, and then confronted the Mexican police, which prevented them from entering Mexico.
The Guatemalan Interior Ministry said the second group had injured the Guatemalan police and used human shields, and Guatemalan firefighters confirmed that a 26-year-old Honduran had been killed. a ball in the head.
While the migrants claimed to have been hit by a rubber bullet, the Mexican Secretary of the Interior, Alfonso Navarrete Prida, denied that the forces of his country had firearms or any other object that could shoot rubber bullets.
Navarrete Prida said the Mexican Federal Police and immigration agents had been attacked with stones, glass bottles and fireworks when migrants had crossed a door on the Mexican side of the border, but were not allowed to enter. Navarrete said some of the attackers carried firearms and incendiary bombs. There was no evidence that the first caravan had come with weapons.
"The Mexican government has rejected acts of violence perpetrated at the border with Guatemala and reiterated that the only way to enter Mexico was to abide by the laws on immigration," he said. .
At the same time, some of the original caravan migrants, currently estimated at 4,000, began walking and climbing more and more from Tapanatepec to Santiago Niltepec, 54 kilometers to the northwest.
Although getting used to driving in passing trucks was a largely impromptu habit during the first week of the caravan, it is now better organized. On Monday, more than 100 migrants lined up on a parking lot at the gas station to wait for walks.
Zanatepec mayor Ramiro Nolasco said the local population had organized a bus and several trucks to transport migrants, mainly women and children. "We are helping our brothers from other countries with food, water and transportation," Nolasco said. "It will be very little, compared to what they need."
The caravan will still travel approximately 1,600 km to reach the nearest US border crossing point in McAllen, Texas. The trip could be twice as long if the migrants were heading to the border between Tijuana and San Diego, as had another caravan earlier this year. Only about 200 people from this small group managed to get to the border.
Most of the migrants in the caravan appeared determined to reach the United States, despite offering refuge in Mexico.
Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on Friday launched a program called "You're at Home", which promises shelter, medical care, education and jobs for Central Americans who agree to stay in Chiapas or Oaxaca in southern Mexico far from the US border.
Mexico's Interior Minister said Sunday that temporary ID numbers had been assigned to more than 300 migrants, which would allow them to stay and work in Mexico. The ministry said that pregnant women, children and the elderly were among those who had joined the program and were now being cared for in shelters.
He said 1,895 had applied for refugee status in Mexico.
