How the migrant caravan has become so big and why it continues to grow

HUIXTLA, Mexico – Edith Cruz was sitting at her home in central Honduras, scanning Facebook on her phone, when she saw the message on the caravan on a community news page.

It was October 12th. She and her cousin had just opened a small business selling tortillas while they were facing a gang, threatened with death if they did not pay back half their profits. She looked at the Facebook post: "An avalanche of Hondurans is preparing to leave in a caravan in the United States. Share this! In less than three hours, his bags were packed.

The question of how the migrant caravan began has resulted in the mid-term US elections. President Trump and other Republicans have suggested Democrats pay migrants to begin the journey. As the group continues to grow, the largest of these caravans in recent years, its beginnings are scrutinized: how have more than 5,000 Central American migrants met?

Although the caravan's story remains somewhat opaque, many migrants responded that they wanted to leave for months or years, and then – in a Facebook post, a TV show, a group of WhatsApp – they saw the image of the group and decided.

"I immediately knew that I would," said Irma Rosales, 37, of Santa Ana, El Salvador, who saw footage of the caravan on television and bought a ticket from bus to get to the group in Guatemala last week.

"I was expecting a way to reach the north, and then I heard about the caravan," said Ediberto Fuentes, 30, who fled Honduras for southern Mexico but was found blocked for months without the money to pay a smuggler. in the USA.

"I packed my suitcase in 30 minutes," said 16-year-old Jose Mejia of Ocotepeque, Honduras, who heard about the caravan when her friend knocked on her door at 4 am and simply replied, "We are going.

On Tuesday, they stopped to rest in the small town of Huixtla in southern Mexico, washing their clothes in buckets of water, sending messages to their families from cybercafés and accepting donations. that local residents were willing to offer. According to reports, hundreds of other Central American migrants attracted by endless media coverage were about to arrive.

The Honduran government says community activists, led by a former lawmaker named Bartolo Fuentes, were initially behind the group, in an attempt to denigrate the country's leaders. Most of the migrants here are still from Honduras.

"There is clear evidence of the beginning. Bartolo was the person who was in front of the media; he was the face of this event, "said Alden Rivera Montes, ambassador of Honduras to Mexico, in an interview.

"They were trying to show Honduras as a bankrupt country, which is totally wrong," said Rivera Montes.

Vice President Pence said in an interview with The Washington Post on Tuesday that the President of Honduras had told him that the caravan was funded by Venezuela's left-wing government. There is no evidence to support this statement.

Fuentes told The Post that he was only helping to connect small groups of immigration candidates who were already planning to travel to the north. In September, Facebook groups posted articles on the caravan projects.

"Those people who normally migrated, hidden, day after day, decided to come together and travel together to protect themselves," Fuentes said.

He added that he was in contact with four groups of future migrants who were talking about WhatsApp and other social networks – in Tegucigalpa, the capital, as well as La Ceiba, Colon and San Pedro Sula – of the possibility to travel together.

"They contacted me. they said, "We have seen what you have written; we want you to tell us how the caravan left in March, "he said.

Fuentes has had a long career as a political activist on the left of Honduras. A former student leader who protested against the US-backed "against" war to overthrow the neighboring Nicaraguan government, he was elected to the Legislature in 2013 and hosted a radio talk show on migration entitled " Without limits". He is a fierce critic of President Juan Orlando Hernández.

One week before the start of the caravan, Fuentes posted on his Facebook page a A pamphlet on the caravan where it says "We do not go because we want it, violence and poverty drive us away." He called people to meet on October 12 at 8 am at the bus terminal from San Pedro Sula.

"We will accompany these people," Fuentes wrote on Facebook on October 5. "We will support them at least for the departure."

The caravan's beginnings have benefited from increased media coverage in Honduras, particularly from HCH, a popular television channel in the country. By the time people started gathering at the bus terminal on October 11 and 12, there were live feeds on various Facebook pages. Before the Americans heard about it, the caravan had become viral in Central America.

"Everyone wants to know who is guilty, who is behind all this," said Irineo Mujica, director of Pueblos Sin Fronteras, based in Tijuana, who advocated for this and previous caravans, helping to organize the itineraries and other logistics. "But no one has the power to organize as many people. Nobody can organize an exodus.

In mid-October, the explosion of media coverage and viral publications on social media in Central America caused an explosion in the number of migrants. A few days after the departure of the caravan of San Pedro Sula on October 13, hardly anyone could understand the official history of the group. They could only name the publication on Facebook or the television program that led to their own decision to migrate.

Many migrants have seen the caravan grow in real time, surprised by the growing number of people.

"When I arrived at the bus terminal (in San Pedro Sula), there were 30 people. A few hours later, there were hundreds, "said Jose Vijin, 32, from northwestern Honduras.

Americans in Central America are waiting for their food donation to Huixtla on Tuesday. (Alejandro Cegarra / Bloomberg)

Migrant caravans have roamed Central America for several years, partly to protest against human rights, and partly to ensure a safe passage for Central Americans on a dangerous road to the north. Normally, a Central American American emigrating to the United States must pay a series of smugglers tied to an agreement to make the trip, amounting to more than $ 10,000. The caravan provided a relatively safe means of migration, essentially free.

The last caravan, which left southern Mexico in March, has received such attention from the media, especially in recent days, that it laid the foundation for the biggest current exodus, said many migrants. The current group is exponentially larger than previous caravans. Hondurans, Guatemalans and Salvadorians who missed their chances this spring decided that this time, they would rush to join the group.

By the time Irma Rosales heard about the caravan in El Salvador, migrants were already approaching the Guatemalan border. Her husband had been murdered a year earlier, she said, and after reporting the crime to the police, the threats of the MS-13 began to name him.

"I did not have the money to buy a coyote, so the caravan was the only way," she said.

After seeing the group's pictures on TV, she typed "migrant caravana" into Google and found that the migrants had to reach the border between Guatemala and Mexico within two days, on October 19th. tickets, traveling for 16 hours, traveling to the border in time to catch the caravan.

Then she bought a Mexican phone card and texted her cousin in Chicago.

"I'm coming," she wrote.

Partlow reported from Mexico. Gabriela Martinez in Mexico and Nick Miroff in Washington contributed to this report.

Read more

The mystery of the "unknowns of the Middle East": who is really in the caravan of migrants?

Why is Mexico not stopping the caravan of migrants?

Today's coverage of Swiss Post correspondents around the world

Love Washington Post World on Facebook and stay up to date on foreign news