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From Associated Press
JUCHITAN, Mexico – Thousands of Central American migrants living in a caravan that has already traveled more than 250 km in Mexico are hoping not to having to walk
On Wednesday, members of the Red Cross bombed the swollen feet of Honduran farmer Omar Lopez in the southern city of Juchitan, where the caravan was suspended for the day. He was pounding hot asphalt highways every day for two weeks after spending the night on concrete sidewalks with just a thin plastic wrap to cover himself, and this had had detrimental consequences.
"We are waiting to see if they will help us with the buses, to continue the journey," said Lopez, 27.
The organizers say the buses, if they materialized, would take the more than 4,000 migrants to Mexico City for meetings with lawmakers, and not the US border is still distant, although some would likely continue until 39. on the border after reaching the capital.
It may not play well with US officials: White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders congratulated Mexico on Wednesday for preventing migrants from moving.
"Mexico has strengthened in an unprecedented way," Sanders told Fox News. "They helped stop many of these people's caravans in these caravans, forcing them to walk in. They helped us in new ways to slow that down, to break it and to prevent it from moving as aggressively. to the United States. " "
The Mexican government has actually taken a somewhat contradictory stance to help or hinder the first caravan, reflecting the country's balance: officials do not want to irritate Trump, but Mexicans themselves have long suffered Abuse as Migrants
During the first week of the caravan, the Mexican Federal Police sometimes enforced obscure safety rules, forcing migrants to leave paid minibuses, referring to insurance regulations They also stopped overloaded vans carrying migrants and forced them to go down, but in recent days, officials from the Mexican Migration Agency have organized humanitarian maneuvers for women and children. children scattered in the caravan.
And the police regularly stood nearby while the migra They were piled aboard freight trucks. The caravan – which planned to take a day off Wednesday in Juchitan, about 900 km from the next US border crossing – is just the beginning.
A second, smaller group of about 1,000 migrants forced themselves into Mexico on Monday. was dragging some 250 miles back. They spent Tuesday night in the city of Tapachula.
Behind them, a third group of Salvadoran migrants had already been to Guatemala, and on Wednesday a fourth group of about 700 Salvadorans left the capital, San Salvador. with the intention of walking to the US border, 1,500 kilometers away.
Jose Santos, 27, brought his baby with him in the quest for quixotic. "I did not want to go, but I am unemployed and I have to get money to buy food for my son," Santos said. "There is no work here and the violence never stops."
The first caravan started in Honduras more than two weeks ago. Since then, caravan migrants have spent the night in camps in the main squares of small towns in the states of Chiapas (south) and Oaxaca (south). But a deadly earthquake last year destroyed the central market of Juchitan, which led him to be temporarily transferred to the central square – which means that there is no had more room for them.
Instead, they spent the night on municipal land on the outskirts of the city. where a high ceiling sheltered a cement floor. Outside the structure, many more people slept on blankets or sheets of cardboard in the grbad, with some tarpaulins for the roof as a rudimentary shelter.
The two groups together represent just a few days of the average influx of United States migrants in recent years. Similar caravans have been used regularly over the years, but they have become an urgent election issue for US President Donald Trump.
Just weeks before the mid-term elections, the Pentagon has announced its intention to deploy. 5,200 soldiers headed for the southwestern border and Trump continued to tweet and talk about migrants.
On Wednesday, he tweeted: "We will NOT leave these caravans, which are also made up of very bad thugs and gang members, Our border is sacred and must enter legally." TURN! "
" D & # After what they say, we will not be welcome at the border, "said Levin Guillen, a Honduran migrant, questioned about Trump. "But we will try."
Guillen, a 23-year-old farmer from Corinto, Honduras, said that he had received threats from the same people who had killed his father 18 years ago. "We just want to find a way to reach our final goal, the border," he said.
Littered by the length of kilometers traveled and frustrated by slow progress, many migrants withdrew and returned home or sought protection status in Mexico. The initial group is already considerably reduced compared to its peak estimated at more than 7,000 people. A caravan in the spring finally touched about 200 people who reached the US border in San Diego.
Deputy Ministers of Foreign Affairs of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico met on Tuesday and agreed to coordinate "special attention" for caravans, guaranteeing the rights of tourists, and human, humanitarian badistance and "safe, orderly and regular migration" in accordance with the laws of each country.
The Ministry of the Interior of Mexico stated that two Hondurans who had applied to enter had been identified as having one arrest warrant, one related to drugs and the other for alleged homicide. They were deported. The ministry said in a statement that the men were part of the "migrant caravan", but did not specify which group or specified when they were stopped at checkpoints in the state of Chiapas ( South).
Echoing their compatriots in the original caravan, Hondurans of the second group talked about the homicide rate and gang fleeing into one of the world's deadliest countries. They said that asylum in the United States was their main goal, but some were willing to seek protection status in Mexico if it does not work.
"Keep going to the United States, that's the first goal," said Carlos Enrique Carcamo, a 50-year-old boat mechanic. "But if it's not possible, well, leave here in Mexico to work or stay here."
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