The Honduran Transnational Criminal Investigation Unit (Utic) dismantled this Thursday a network of coyotes that transported migrants, mostly Cubans, through the Central American country to Guatemala. The National Police confirmed in a statement the capture of “eleven smugglers carrying 45 Cubans in vehicles”.
The traffickers had as their base of operations the municipality of Santa Cruz de Yojoa, in the department of Cortés, an obligatory passage for the Cubans. According to data obtained by the Utic, they approached people when they got off the vans in which they arrived from the border.
The criminal group had homes in the Honduran municipalities of Guaimaca, Distrito Central, Maraita and San Antonio, all in the department of Francisco Morazán, where they kept migrants and used cars to transport groups of four or five to avoid attracting attention. of the authorities. The detainees will be prosecuted for the “flagrant crime of illicit human trafficking.”
At the time of their arrest, the coyotes were carrying 21,200 lempiras (Honduran currency), 244 dollars, 150 Cuban pesos, 1,000 Costa Rican colones, 2,000 Colombian pesos, 120 Nicaraguan córdobas, 20 Uruguayan pesos and 20 Venezuelan bolívares. In addition, several cars and a truck were confiscated.
The traffickers had as their base of operations the municipality of Santa Cruz de Yojoa, in the department of Cortés, an obligatory passage for the Cubans
The Cubans were handed over to the Honduran National Migration Institute where they began the procedures to regularize their stay in the country and be able to continue their journey to the United States.
According to Honduran figures on migrants, updated until November 7, 145,959 people have entered illegally through Honduras, of which 59,055 are of Cuban origin.
The island’s migrants have denounced that on their way through the Central American country face fines by the immigration authorities and extortion from police, who demand the payment of 20 dollars at the checkpoints.
The passage from Honduras to Guatemala is essential for the journey of Cubans to the US border. On Tuesday, the Guatemalan National Civil Police arrested 50 Cubans, including seven minors, who were traveling in a truck that covered the route between Buenos Aires and Río Dulce, in Livingston, department of Izabal.
This group was taken to the border of Agua Caliente. By not carrying the consulted visa category Cone of the requirements for their entry into Guatemalan territory, in addition to a valid passport, the Immigration area analyzes their expulsion.
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