A new convoy of immigrants leaves from Honduras for the United States | USA

Tegucigalpa. Several hundred Hondurans left Tuesday in a new caravan for the United States amid a rebound in migrant flows through Central America and Mexico to the North American country, driven by Washington’s more flexible policies on the issue.

The convoy, mainly made up of young men with backpacks and women with children in their arms or hands, the second year after year was halted and disbanded by Central American authorities in January.

According to a Reuters witness and media reports, members of the new group were traveling on Tuesday morning from a bus station in the northern city of San Pedro Sula to Corriento, on the border with neighboring Guatemala.

“You have to take risks for a better life in the United States. In Honduras we will never do anything,” a young man wearing a mask who introduced himself as Carlos Flores told local television.

The government of Guatemala, the country the caravan must cross to reach Mexico, announced Monday that it will implement a 15-day ban in five regions that means meetings are banned and law enforcement authorities can solve it.

Mexico’s Foreign Minister, Marcelo Ebrard, has ruled out an excess of immigrants, despite the fact that in February around 10,000 children under the age of 18 from Central America crossed their countries undocumented into the US without their parents, twice the previous month.

The poverty of 60% of the population of Honduras is exacerbated by the impact of the temporary shutdown of activities on the economy to stem the spread of the coronavirus, which has caused 4,585 deaths in the Central American country and 187,975 people. Infections.

Adding to the migrants’ despair is the expectation generated by President Joe Biden’s crackdown on several measures by his predecessor, Donald Trump, to halt immigration, although the changes will take time to reverse, as the United States has admitted.