By SONIA PÉREZ D.
Associated Press

CHIQUIMULA, Guatemala (AP) - United States officials are crediting tough measures taken over the past year and cooperation from regional governments for sharply reducing the number of Central American migrants who responded to a call for a new caravan. But even so, the several thousand mostly Honduran migrants who set out on foot this week are a testament to the continued driving forces of violence and unemployment plaguing the region. Some of those swept up by police were expected to give up and return to Honduras, even as scattered groups continued to walk and hitchhike through a tropical region of southeastern Guatemala.

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