First migrant caravan of 2022 leaves Honduras for the United States

“We are going practically without resources to the Guatemalan government, if you see that, please let’s pass, we don’t want to be in our way in any of those countries, we want to continue our course,” he told AFP. .

The crisis in Nicaragua, which began in 2018 after the violent suppression of a wave of anti-government protests, has forced tens of thousands to seek a better future abroad. In 2021, Costa Rica received 53,000 asylum applications from Nicaragua. Last year, the United States and Mexico reported record numbers of immigrants.

For its part, the poverty rate in Honduras has risen to 62% of the population, according to official figures, after the economy suffered a recession in 2020 backed by the coronavirus epidemic and two strong hurricanes.

A 17-year-old boy, who identified himself as Daniel, is originally from Villanueva, 10 kilometers from San Pedro Sula, told reporters that he immigrated out of “essential economic necessity”.

“You have to strive for a better future, it is very difficult here, there is no good education and no support from the government to be able to study,” he lamented.

Leftist Chiomara Castro, who will take over the presidency of Honduras at the end of January, has promised to create jobs, support small businesses and attract investment to discourage immigration, which has been exacerbated by widespread public corruption.

With information from Reuters and Agence France-Presse