Source::AP
MEXICO CITY
Mexico announced restrictions Thursday on nonessential travel across its southern border with Guatemala and Belize “to prevent the spread of COVID-19.”
The Foreign Relations Department did not explain why the measure was announced now, more than a year after the start of the pandemic.
But the result could help the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden handle a wave of Central American migrants reaching the U.S. border and it came on the same day the U.S. confirmed it will send 2.5 million doses of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine to Mexico.
Officials from both countries skirted the question of whether the vaccines were being sent to Mexico in return for its decision to restrict entry on its southern border, though they acknowledged the decision came in the context of current talks on vaccines and immigration.
Roberto Velasco, director of North American affairs for Mexico’s Foreign Relations Department, wrote that “this is a question of sperate issues on a joint agenda. Migration and COVID-19 vaccines are distinct issues.”
White House press secretary Jenn Psaki said that “there have been expectations set outside of — unrelated — to any vaccine doses or request for them that they would be partners in dealing with the crisis on the border.”
“And there have been requests, unrelated, that they — for doses of these vaccines,” Paski said. “Every relationship has multiple layers of conversations that are happening at the same time.”
Mexico’s assistant health secretary, Hugo López-Gatell, said the country’s decision was triggered by the increasing number of migrants entering from Central America.
ALSO READ
