Honduras caravan organizer detained after Trump’s threats

Authorities in Guatemala have detained the organizer of a caravan of hundreds of migrants from Honduras, who have marched deeper into the country on their way to the United States, after US President Donald Trump threatened to cut financial aid to both states if they do not stop the mass migration.

Guatemalan officers on Tuesday detained Bartolo Fuentes, a former Honduran lawmaker, from the middle of the large crowd, which managed to cross the border into Guatemala after intense clashes with the country’s police.

Fuentes, along with three other organizers, had initially led a group of only 160 people from San Pedro Sula — reportedly Honduras's most dangerous city — on Friday. Gradually, more and more people, including women, children, and elderly, joined the caravan on the way.

According to the organizers’ estimates, up to 3,000 migrants crossed from Honduras into Guatemala on Monday evening.

The arrest came after Trump said the flow of the migrants to the US had to be immediately halted or his administration would terminate all aid to the Central American nations of Honduras and Guatemala, as well as El Salvador.

Honduras accuses opposition of luring people to join caravan

In his first comments on the matter, Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez accused the opposition of risking the lives of thousands of people by prodding them to join the caravan.

“There are sectors that want to destabilize the country, but we will be decisive and we will not allow it,” Hernandez said.

Honduras’ Foreign Ministry also said earlier that people had been lured to join the migration with “false promises” of a transit visa through Mexico and the opportunity to seek asylum in America.

The ministry said in a statement that the government “urges the Hondurans taking part in this irregular mobilization not to be used by a movement that is clearly political.”

Following Trump’s new threats as well as the government warnings, another, smaller caravan that had just started its journey from Honduras was blocked by the country’s security officials at the border with Guatemala in Agua Caliente, television images from the border showed.

The migrants, who say they are fleeing poverty and violence, are planning to seek refugee status in Mexico or pass through to the US.

Trump has already warned them to turn back or his administration will have to adopt a new family separation policy at the border with Mexico.

He adopted a similar policy earlier this year to prevent Mexicans from crossing the border into America. The controversial move, which separated some 2,000 children from their families after they crossed the border illegally, prompted outrage across the world as well as inside the US.

While Trump signed an executive order ending that controversial policy in June, the Hondurans face a similar prospect under the potential new policy if they do make their way to America.

Trump also said in a tweet late Tuesday that all of those entering the US illegally would be arrested and later deported.

Trump also wrote on Twitter that he “has strongly informed the President of Honduras that if the large Caravan of people heading to the US is not stopped and brought back to Honduras, no more money or aid will be given to Honduras, effective immediately!”

He also warned Guatemala and El Salvador “that if they allow their citizens, or others, to journey through their borders and up to the United States, with the intention of entering our country illegally, all payments made to them will STOP!”

The US gave more than 175 million dollars to Honduras in 2016 and 2017, according to the US Agency for International Development.

Meanwhile, and also on Tuesday, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights called on Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico to respect the rights and ensure the safety of the migrants traveling in the caravans.

Mexico, which requires visa for Hondurans in most cases, has also warned that only those who meet entry requirements will be allowed into the country.

With a population of about nine million, Honduras is one of the most impoverished counties in Central America. It is also plagued by gang violence, drug wars, and corruption. According to Human Rights Watch, it currently has one of the highest homicide rates in the world.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk