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WORLD NEWS Tuesday 19 January 2021
Weary migrants wait at Guatemala roadblock as caravan stalls

By SANDRA SEBASTIAN the lines of police and sol-
Associated Press diers.
VADO HONDO, Guatemala On Sunday, Guatemala’s
(AP) — Hundreds of Hondu- Health Ministry reported
ran migrants awoke tired that 21 of the migrants
and hungry Monday after who sought medical at-
a second night stuck along tention at health centers
a rural Guatemalan road- had tested positive for the
side by police and soldiers coronavirus. The depart-
who will not let them pass. ment said the 12 men and
A steep mountain and tall nine women would not be
wall flanking the rural high- returned to Honduras until
way have allowed Guate- they undergo quarantine
malan authorities to bottle at centers in Guatemala.
up the group that had Even if the migrants man-
numbered about 2,000 age to find their way to the
when it pushed into Guate- Mexican border, that gov-
mala Friday night. ernment has made a show
Their ranks have reduced of force with thousands of
through attrition as some National Guard members
migrants have agreed to and immigration agents
be bused back to the Hon- waiting there.
duran border. A smaller Honduran migrants rest on the side of the road near a police roadblock at a highway in Vado “We are proposing that
number have been force- Hondo, Guatemala, Guatemala, Sunday, Jan. 17, 2021. they seek a dialogue with
fully sent back after scuf- Associated Press the migrants, in Honduras,
fling with authorities who authorities said they suc- by the COVID-19 pandem- sat up after a fitful night’s Guatemala,” President
held their line with baton cessfully negotiated open- ic and two major hurricanes sleep in the brush along the Andrés Manuel López Ob-
strikes and tear gas. ing one lane of traffic so that struck in November, road or on the pavement. rador said Monday. “They
Guatemala’s immigra- vehicles could pass. leaving thousands home- Some migrants had drifted should attend to them so
tion authorities said Mon- In total, some 8,000 to 9,000 less. That’s on top of the back to the town in search that they don’t enter any
day that another group of Honduran migrants were existing lack of economic of food or shade to wait country by force.”
about 800 migrants had believed to have entered opportunity and persistent out the stalemate. The president said he
been located about 40 kilo- Guatemala in the year’s gang violence. Traffic, especially semi- also hopes to hear U.S.
meters farther north along first caravan after depart- In Vado Hondo Monday, trailers, were backed up for President-elect Joe Biden
the highway near Rio Hon- ing from San Pedro Sula, site of the roadblock out- miles. Locals picked their address immigration in
do. They are also blocked Honduras early Friday. Hon- side Chiquimula, migrants way among the migrants his inauguration speech
from advancing there, but duras has been battered leaned against the wall or and were allowed to pass Wednesday.q

Japan urges South Korea to drop

wartime compensation demands

women who were sexually
abused in Japanese mili-
tary brothels during the war
was “an abnormal devel-
opment absolutely unthink-
able under international
law and bilateral relations.”
“We strongly urge South
Korea to correct the viola-
tion of international law as
soon as possible” and re-
store healthy relations, Mo-
tegi said.
The Seoul Central District
Court ruled on Jan. 8 that
In this Aug. 14, 2017, file photo, a comfort woman statue is placed the Japanese government
on a chair of a bus to mark the 5th International Memorial Day must give 100 million won
for Comfort Women, in Seoul, South Korea. ($91,360) to each of 12 el-
Associated Press derly women who filed law-
By MARI YAMAGUCHI of Korean women and use suits in 2013 over their war-
Associated Press of forced laborers during time suffering as “comfort
TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s World War II. women.”
foreign minister accused Toshimitsu Motegi, in a dip- They were among tens
South Korea on Monday of lomatic policy speech in of thousands of women
worsening already strained parliament, said a recent across Japanese-occu-
ties by making “illegal” South Korean court ruling pied Asia and the Pacific
demands for compensa- ordering Japan to com- who were sent to front-line
tion for the sexual abuse pensate 12 South Korean Japanese army brothels. q