Friday, October 10, 2025

Mexico closes southern border to nonessential traffic, extends closure at US border

The federal government announced Thursday that the southern border with Guatemala and Belize would close on Friday to nonessential traffic as part of measures to combat the coronavirus pandemic. It also said the closure of the Mexico-U.S. border was extended for another month.

“To prevent the spread of Covid-19, Mexico will impose restrictions on land travel for nonessential activities at its northern and southern border starting March 19, 2021,” the Foreign Affairs Ministry (SRE) said on Twitter.

“In addition, the government of Mexico will implement sanitary control measures in the north and south of the country. The restrictions on nonessential travel and the health measures will remain in force until 23:59 on April 21, 2021.”

The closure of the southern border comes as a growing number of Central American migrants – encouraged by United States President Joe Biden’s arrival in the White House – attempt to travel to the U.S. via Mexico to seek asylum. More than 100,000 migrants were apprehended by United States border agents in February, an increase of 28% over January numbers.

Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell said Thursday night that the closure of the southern border to nonessential traffic was related to the increase in migrant flows from Central America.

Speaking at the Health Ministry’s coronavirus press briefing, the government’s coronavirus czar stressed that the border was not closing completely.

“It’s simply a collaboration with … Guatemala, Belize and other Central American nations … to have a reduction in mobility for nonessential activities,” he said.

Although restrictions on travel across the northern border have been in place for the past year, Mexico had not previously limited travel across the border with Guatemala and Belize.

The SRE’s announcement came the same day as the United States announced that it plans to share 2.5 million AstraZeneca vaccines with Mexico.

The federal government ramped up enforcement against migrants when former United States president Donald Trump threatened to impose blanket tariffs on Mexican goods if it didn’t do more to stop flows of people to the Mexico-U.S. border.

But Mexican and U.S officials denied that there was any migration deal included in the vaccine agreement.

Before the SRE made its announcement, the United States said it was extending restrictions on travel across its its land borders.

“To prevent the further spread of Covid-19, and in coordination with our partners in Canada and Mexico, the United States is extending the restrictions on non-essential travel at our land borders through April 21, while ensuring continued flows of essential trade and travel,” the Department of Homeland Security said.

Source: El Universal (sp), Infobae (sp) 

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.
sargassum

Mexico’s Caribbean coast welcomes early end to sargassum season

2
Sargassum on Quintana Roo's beaches caused a lot of problems throughout the season, but in reality, the quantities seen were lower than experts had predicted earlier in the year.

Migrant apprehensions at Mexico border hit 55-year low, US reports

4
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported 237,565 apprehensions at the Mexico-U.S. border in Fiscal Year 2025, the lowest total since Fiscal Year 1970.
Mammoth discovery made in Mexico City

How Mexican scientists uncovered the story of the first mammoths in the Americas

1
The important new discoveries were made after an airport construction project uncovered ancient Ice Age mammoth fossils.
BETA Version - Powered by Perplexity