ZCZC
BFF-18
GUATEMALA-MIGRATION-US-GUINEA-HAITI
Guatemala arrests 24 migrants from Haiti, Guinea en route to US
GUATEMALA CITY, June 16, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Guatemalan police arrested 24
migrants from Haiti and Guinea who were preparing to travel north and
illegally enter the United States, a spokesman said on Saturday.
The arrests took place at a bus station on the northern fringes of
Guatemala City, according to police spokesman Pablo Castillo.
The group had boarded the bus at Chiquimula city near the Honduran border,
a staging post for migrants passing through Guatemala on the way to the US,
he added.
“These people include six women and a minor. Twenty are from Haiti and
four from Guinea,” he said.
All 24 were taken to a migration shelter in the center of the capital
city.
Guatemala is a starting and transit point for migrant caravans that have
since last year embarked for Mexico and the US border, angering US President
Donald Trump and inflaming tensions between Washington and its southern
neighbors.
Most of the migrants are from Central America, but others have joined the
caravans from other countries on the continent such as Colombia and Cuba, and
even as far afield as Africa. On Friday, police arrested 13 migrants from
Cameroon and Burkina Faso near Guatemala’s border with Mexico.
BSS/AFP/MSY/1106 hrs