Honduran authorities intercepted a dozen Cuban migrants traveling in a van on a highway in the south of the country on Wednesday. With them, they arrested a suspected human trafficker who took them to the border with Guatemala.
The Honduran National Police said in a press release that the Cubans were arrested in the city of the same name, Choluteca. A dozen people who entered the country irregularly were transported in the van. His final destination is the United States.
Toyota, model Hilux, black, in which the Cubans traveled. Photo: Honduras National Police.
The vehicle was intercepted by agents from the Transnational Criminal Investigation Unit, which reports to the Police Directorate of Investigations, and the Special Tactical Operations Group.
The suspected trafficker, also known as “Coyote,” is a 33-year-old man who lives in the municipality of El Triunfo, Choluteca, on the border with Nicaragua, Honduran police said. He will be charged with the “blatant crime of human trafficking,” for which both he and the vehicle were presented, the statement said.
The Caribbean people have been placed in the hands of Honduras’ National Institute for Migration (INM), where they will have the option to pay a fine equivalent to $220 to expedite their legal exit from the country.
Honduras: more than a hundred migrants from Cuba arrested on their way to the United States
Honduras has in recent decades become a transit point for migrants, particularly Cubans, who enter the country irregularly through “blind spots” operated by traffickers who do not always get them to the Guatemalan border.
According to the Efe agency, more than 16,000 migrants have been arrested in Honduras so far in 2022 for entering the country illegally to reach the United States, according to the INM.
Efe/OnCuba.