TEGUCIGALPA – Security forces in western Honduras on Thursday detained nine Cuban migrants as they were trying to travel without the proper documents from the Central American nation to the United States, a government official said.

The migrants – eight men and one woman – were initially held at the customs office in Agua Caliente, on the border with Guatemala, due to irregularities in their documentation and immigration status, a spokesman for the National Police told reporters.

The spokesman added that the Cubans were later turned over to Honduran immigration authorities in the western province of Ocotepeque so that their immigration status could be determined and a decision could be made on whether or not to allow them to continue their journey to the United States.

In recent years, Honduras has become a transit zone for illegal migrants, especially Cubans, who flee their country in an attempt to make it to the United States, local authorities say.

Enter your email address to subscribe to free headlines (and great cartoons so every email has a happy ending!) from the Latin American Herald Tribune: