Guatemala steps up crackdown on migrants marching toward US border

Guatemalan authorities have escalated efforts to stop thousands of Hondurans - many of them families with children - traveling in a migrant caravan bound for the United States just as a new administration is about to enter the White House.

The first migrant caravan of the year comes less than a week before US President-elect Joe Biden takes office, promising a more humane approach to migration, in contrast to outgoing President Donald Trump's hard-line policies.

Between 7,000 and 8,000 migrants have entered Guatemala since Friday, fleeing poverty and violence in a region battered by the pandemic and back-to-back hurricanes in November.

Videos showed Guatemalan security forces clashing with a group of hundreds of migrants who managed to break through a police blockade at the village of Vado Hondo in eastern Guatemala.

Between Friday and Saturday, Guatemala had sent back almost 1,000 migrants entering from Honduras, the government said, as the caravan moved toward Mexico.

The caravan is likely to come under more pressure in Mexico, whose migration accord with the United States still holds, so the caravan would be dispersed.

On Saturday evening, the Mexican foreign ministry pressed local authorities to halt the caravan's progress, citing the need to contain the spread of Covid-19.

The ministry praised the Guatemalan government for acting in a "firm and responsible" manner toward migrants that had "violated [Guatemala's] sovereignty" and urged Honduras to prevent further movements of people.

Mexico, it said, is committed to orderly migration and opposes any form of unauthorized entry.

The caravan has nevertheless grown considerably, with members citing a spiraling crisis of hunger and homelessness in Honduras as reasons for joining.

"We have nothing to feed to our children, and thousands of us were left sleeping on the streets," said Maria Jesus Paz, a mother of four children who said she lost her home in the hurricanes.

"This is why we make this decision, even though the journey could cost us our lives."

Coronavirus-related lockdowns shattered Honduras' economy, which last year suffered its worst contraction on record.