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Huixtla (Mexico) – After a day of rest in Huitxla, southern Mexico, thousands of Honduran migrants were to resume their long march towards the United States on Wednesday morning, a trip that revived tensions between Mexico City and Washington.
After two days in Mexican territory, migrants stopped Tuesday in this small town in the state of Chiapas, 70 kilometers from the southern border with Guatemala. They have regained strength, most for the first time since leaving northern Honduras on October 13 and 800 kilometers traveled, and while they have 3,000 left to reach the US border.
Migrants, including women and young children, spent the day in churches or lying on the ground in a city park or sports field.
"They are exhausted", explains Rodrigo Abeja, from Peuples sans frontières, an NGO that accompanies the"caravan"Nearly 7,000 people, mostly Hondurans, according to UN estimates Monday.
In the morning, local residents offered them hot coffee, blankets, diapers, trying to relieve exhausted migrants.
"We took care of eight pregnant women", says AFP a nurse working on a medical post installed in Huixtla Park."Sometimes it hurts a lot, sometimes I feel like I'm going to give birth, but I think I only needed to rest", says Teresa, 19, a migrant woman who is nearly eight months pregnant.
Some took advantage of this day to wash in the river, and wash their clothes. The migrants had to restart at 0900 GMT.
– "Challenge our sovereignty"-
Some of these migrants, who are all fleeing violence and misery in their country, manage to move a little faster, riding trucks, pick-ups or motorcycles.
But some people also leave life there. Honduras reported two deaths among its nationals: one in Guatemala, after falling from a truck that had taken a stop, and another in Mexico.
The small Central American country also announced that 300 of its nationals joined the 3,433 others who had finally decided to return to their country between Friday and Sunday.
The Mexican authorities, for their part, have reported receiving a total of 1,699 asylum applications since the beginning of this crisis.
US Vice President Mike Pence on Tuesday suggested that Honduran organizations "from the left"financed by Venezuela were behind this"caravanafter meeting with Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez.
This "caravan"migrants are sent"to the North to challenge our sovereignty"He said at a Washington Post conference in the US capital that he was echoing the words of Donald Trump, who pitched in Texas in front of supporters Monday:"It's an badault on our country, an badault!"
The US president, who is campaigning for the crucial mid-term elections, said he has warned the army and border guards against this.national emergency"And also blamed the Mexican military and police for being"unable"to stop the migrants.
"We will not bow to the demands of any government claiming to provoke a hostile reaction in Mexico", responded Mexican Minister of the Interior, Alfonso Navarrete, interviewed by the press in Mexico City.
– "Back on"-
The president of Honduras has promised jobs to his compatriots left in the caravan if they return home. Mr. Hernandez detailed a $ 27 million plan for "the safe return"Migrants who include subsidies, housing, agricultural projects, work in public worksites, microenterprise credits and scholarships.
The future Mexican Minister of Foreign Affairs, Marcelo Ebrard, has promised "substantial changes"on migration policy after the inauguration of left elected President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador on 1 December.
He said the future government would seek to boost investment in Central America to slow the flow of migrants.
Mexico has authorized Monday about 400 migrants, mbaded since Friday on a border bridge with Guatemala, to enter its territory.
They were allowed to cross the border "because the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Mexican) has asked that they not stay out to suffer from the bad weather", told AFP Gerardo Garcia, the country's immigration commissioner.
Meanwhile, a second caravan of about a thousand Hondurans, part of Honduras Sunday, continues its walk from Guatemala to the Mexican border.
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