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A large number of migrants from Central America, representing thousands of people participating in a caravan attempting to reach the US border, are sitting in front of the office of the human rights body United Nations, after embarking on a multi-hour march to ask for buses, in Mexico City, Thursday, November 8, 2018. Members of the caravan that stopped in Mexico City on Thursday asked buses to take them to the US border, claiming that it is too cold and dangerous to keep walking and hitchhiking. (AP Photo / Rebecca Blackwell) The Associated Press
By MARK STEVENSON and CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN, Associated Press
MEXICO (CITY) (AP) – About 500 Central American migrants traveled to Mexico City Friday to undertake the longest and most dangerous stage of their trip to the US border, while thousands of others waited one more day in a gigantic improvised refuge.
The group, which had a long way back, regrouped its few belongings and took a metro to get to the north of the city, then took a fast track with a police escort.
For many, it was the first time they were in a subway system and they knew little about the city or the road to Tijuana (1,740 miles).
Carlos Castanaza, a 29-year-old plumber from Guatemala City, wrapped himself in a blanket against the cold and asked passers-by where the first tollbooth was. When he learned that it was in a city about 30 km away, he carefully wrote the name of the city with a pen to remember where he was heading.
Deported for unlicensed driving after a decade of working in Connecticut, Castanaza was desperate to find his two children born in the United States. "I wanted to go back for over a year, but I could not until the caravan arrived," Castanaza said. "That's why I joined the caravan."
The advance group hoped to reach the north-central city of Queretaro, about 170 km northwest, at dusk.
In the meantime, 4,000 to 5,000 migrants gathered around this improvised massive shelter in a sports complex in Mexico City, eager to leave.
"Let's go, let's go!" shouted Eddy Rivera, 37, a very reluctant Honduran migrant, who stated that he could no longer stay in the camp. "We are all sick, because of the humidity and the cold," said Rivera, who has left four children and a woman in Honduras. "We have to go, we have to go to Tijuana."
Although he does not know how an unqualified farm worker like him would be allowed in the United States, he has a simple dream: to earn enough money to build a small house for his family in Puerto Cortes, in the United States. Honduras.
Thousands of migrants have spent the past few days resting, consulting a doctor and discussing the way forward for their difficult journey through Central America and Mexico, which began in mid-October. On Thursday, caravan representatives met with officials from the local UN office and asked buses to take them to the border.
Caravan coordinator Milton Benitez said officials had offered them buses for women and children, but the organizers had demanded that they be for everyone. Representatives of the United States could not be contacted immediately for confirmation.
Mexico City is more than 600 km from the nearest US border crossing in McAllen, Texas, but a caravan in the spring had opted for the longer route to Tijuana, in the far northwest, in front of San Diego. By the time she reached the border, the caravan had only 200 people left.
"California is the longest route, but the best border, while Texas is the nearest border, but the worst," Jose Luis Fuentes of the National Lawyers Guild told the assembled migrants.
The migrants said they wanted the buses to take them to the US border because it is too difficult and dangerous to keep walking and hitchhiking. Benitez noted that it would be colder in northern Mexico and that it was not prudent for migrants to continue on the highways, where drug cartels are common.
"It's a humanitarian crisis and they ignore it," Benitez said at the time of the group's arrival at the US office.
Mexico offered migrants asylum, asylum or work visas, and his government said 2,697 temporary visas had been issued to individuals and families to protect them while they waited for the process. 45 days to obtain a more permanent status. Wednesday, a bus left Mexico City to bring back 37 people to their home country.
But many want to continue to the United States.
Authorities say most refused to stay in Mexico and only a small number of them agreed to return to their home country. About 85% of migrants come from Honduras, while others come from Central America, Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua.
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