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Amidst the pandemic, they rejected a help proposal to return to their countries.
Even after Central American countries closed their borders to contain the coronavirus outbreak, migrants from Africa and the Caribbean previously stranded there kept heading north in an attempt to reach the U.S.
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According to a statement issued by the Honduran government, the United Nations (U.N.) and a local government organization for children, youths, and family welfare provided transportation to the migrants, a caravan integrated mostly by people from Africa, Haiti, Cuba, and Peru.
Head of the National Inmigration Institute of Honduras Carolina Menjivar said that "the group has rejected a government proposal to help the migrants return to their home countries."
Carolina Menjivar, directora de Migración y Extranjería en comunicación con el noticiero @TN5Telenoticias se refriere al incidente con los migrantes africanos y haitianos. En directo por canal @el5hn y https://t.co/KG2GFb0AHm pic.twitter.com/h73NiO6nee
— TN5 (@TN5Telenoticias) June 3, 2020
“We’re already on the way, we want to reach the border with Guatemala and then, at least for now, get to Mexico until the situation in the United States improves,” one of the migrants said to reporters
At the moment the border was closed, approximately 260 people remained stranded in Honduras. Even when the country only allows cargo trucks to get in and out its territory, migrants are determined to reach Mexico first, and then U.S. soil.
"They have no other alternative than a voluntary assisted return to their countries,” she explained.
Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the situation is very delicate. So far, Honduras has 5,690 positive cases, with 234 death and 617 patients recovered.
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