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| - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Friday there were indications that a US-bound migrant caravan traveling through Guatemala had been organized to draw his country into the US election campaign. "It seems very strange to us. It's very strange that this caravan leaves on the eve of the election in the United States," Lopez Obrador told reporters. "It has to do with the election in the United States. I don't have all the elements but I think there are indications that it was put together for this purpose," he added. Thousands of migrants surged across the border from Honduras into Guatemala on Thursday, just weeks before a tense US presidential election in which immigration is a key issue. Carrying backpacks and plastic bags, they pushed past two lines of Guatemalan soldiers and continued north, despite restrictions linked to the coronavirus pandemic. Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei ordered the Hondurans to be detained and sent back to their home country. In recent years, thousands of Central American migrants traveling in large groups have crossed into Mexico, with the aim of reaching the US border. US President Donald Trump, who is seeking a second term in the November 3 election, has threatened Mexico with steep tariffs if it does not do more to stop a surge of undocumented migrants. Lopez Obrador has previously deployed some 26,000 troops to the country's borders in response. He said Mexico had "made every effort" not to become embroiled in the campaign for the White House. "However, they don't stop trying to sow the issue in the debate," he said, adding that Mexico wanted to avoid a confrontation with the migrants. Lopez Obrador has sought to maintain good relations with Trump despite the US leader's anti-Mexico rhetoric, and chose the United States for his first foreign visit after taking office. jla/dr/sst
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