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Mapastepec (Mexico) – Thousands of migrants who left Honduras on October 13 closed their first 100-kilometer march in the interior of Mexico Wednesday, heading for the United States, which is still more than 3,000 km away.
Some 7,000 people, mostly Hondurans, left Huixtla, southern Mexico, at dawn on Wednesday, where they had taken a break for one day the day before to try to regain their strength, to wash or treatment. Some had already traveled 800 kilometers.
They arrived Wednesday late afternoon in Mapastepec, a city located more than one hundred kilometers from the Mexican-Guatemalan border, crossed force on 19 October.
They calculated that they had 45 days left to reach the United States. "Forty-five days is nothing, it pbades quickly. We will win, even if we are ground we will win", says AFP Delmer Rivera, skinny Honduran 23 years.
Fleeing criminal violence, political instability or misery, migrants are showing their determination to reach the United States despite US President Donald Trump's statements. He pledged to stop them by deploying his army at the border if necessary, and announced that he would cut aid to Central American countries.
On the political front, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro sharply retorted on Wednesday to US Vice President Mike Pence. The latter had suggested the day before that "left-wing Honduran organizations funded by Venezuela"were behind this migratory column, after meeting with Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez.
– "Crazy extremist"-
"This is the imperialist paranoia to accuse Maduro and Venezuela of everything that happens to them, and they are capable of everything", said the chavisist head of state.The incredible power of influence I have in Central America, Mike Pence!", also quipped Nicolas Maduro."If it were not an extremist who said it, a crazy extremist, we would laugh at it".
Venezuela is a new country involved in the tensions surrounding the Central American caravan, in addition to Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico and the United States. These last two countries have abominable relations since the election of Donald Trump at the end of 2016.
In the middle of the campaign for the mid-term legislative elections, the American president has been storming for several days against these migrants, denouncingbadault".
The Mexican authorities did not really prevent the migrants from entering their territory. On various sections of the route, they were escorted by federal police and monitored from helicopters, without the police trying to block them.
"Mexico does not have to do the dirty work for the United StatesCNN's former Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castaneda said on Tuesday night.
In the face of migrants who refuse to seek asylum there, "there are two options for Mexico: expel them or let them prosecute"he explained,"in any way the current or future Mexican government can not expel 7,000, 8,000, or 9,000 people".
– Incentives –
According to the Mexican government, 1,700 people in the caravan have, however, filed for asylum in recent days.
On the road, in the state of Chiapas, migrants have moved on in a harsh heat. "Go brothers, continue!", encouraged them on the way to the Mexicans, who also give them food and water."Mexico! Mexico!", chanted in return these migrants.
Arrived in Mapastepec, a city of 17,000 inhabitants, the migrants occupied the central place to lie on their cartons and plastic sheets. Some were washing at the fountains of the city, some were taking care of their bruised feet, others were sketching a few steps of folk dance.
More than 1,500 children are present in the column, according to humanitarian badociations. They walk by giving their hands to mothers who are sometimes just 20 years old. They are fleeing Honduras to prevent their sons from being recruited or killed by gangs, and their daughters from being kidnapped and raped by these armed groups, a fate that threatens many of them.
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