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TAPACHULA, Mexico – A caravan of about 1,000 Central American migrants crossed the Mexican border and began trekking north Tuesday, a few hundred kilometers from the largest caravan also heading for the US border.
The two caravans, as well as a third smaller one from El Salvador, are part of an exodus of migrants from Central America that passes through Mexico and jeopardizes US-Mexican relations and is the target of the anger of President Donald Trump ahead of the mid-term elections next week. Mr Trump, who described the invasion of caravans, this week ordered some 5,200 troops deployed at the US border to prevent the illegal crossing of the border.
The second group of migrants illegally crossed the shallow Suchiate River, which separates Mexico from Guatemala on Monday night, Mexican officials said, a day after dozens of them clashed with the police. refused them entry to the official crossing point. A Honduran was killed in the fray.
This time they crossed the river. The Mexican government has asked security forces not to use force against migrants. The government has offered them asylum, but most want to put pressure on the United States.
President Trump said the United States would end Central American aid as thousands of migrants head for the US border. Gerald F. Seib of the WSJ explains why this could be counterproductive. Photo: Getty
On Tuesday, the second caravan headed north until Tapachula, a traditional migratory stopover located in the state of Chiapas, in southern Mexico. Many migrants said they hoped to catch up with the first caravan that entered Mexico two weeks ago. This group is now in the state of Oaxaca, 900 km from the nearest US entry point, at least a month's journey at its current rate.
"The mission is to join the other caravan and arrive together at the border. Together, we are stronger, "said Edwin Bonilla, a skinny Honduran from La Ceiba, on the Honduran Caribbean coast, pulling off his sneakers to reveal three big white blisters.
Meanwhile, a third caravan, made up of about 500 migrants from El Salvador, began arriving Tuesday in Tecún Umán, a border town with Guatemala, and intended to cross the Suchiate River on Tuesday. Mexico, according to local press.
Caravans are becoming an increasingly popular means of trying to migrate to the United States as they avoid smugglers' fees and find security in numbers, say migrants. The international attention that caravans receive also helps them to get food and water along the way through charities mainly run by churches.
The first caravan now has about 4,000 people after hundreds of people have withdrawn and asked the Mexican government to send them back to Honduras. More than 2,100 migrants have also applied for asylum, according to Mexican authorities. Most of them are in a government-run shelter in Tapachula.
A larger percentage of the second caravan appears to be made up of younger men compared to the first group. But there are also pregnant women, single mothers and complete families. They say they are fleeing poverty, unemployment and violence. Many carry a bottle of water in one hand and their belongings, a backpack in most cases, in the other.
"They are dehydrated and very tired," said José Trujillo, a doctor working for the state-run civil protection agency in Chiapas. He attended 15 people on Tuesday morning.
One of these families is Miguel Cáceres and Esmeralda González, both 27 years old. Mr. Cáceres pushes a pram filled with luggage, while his wife breastfeeds their daughter Esmeralda, 11 months old, bathed in sweat. His son Ángel, aged 5, plays with an umbrella that he uses to protect himself from the sun.
The family decided that it was time to leave their home when they learned that the first caravan had crossed the border to get to Mexico and that another group was forming in Tecún Umán, said Mr. Cáceres. The four men took several buses, crossed Guatemala and arrived in Tecún Umún on Friday.
"When you fear for your family, this fear makes you walk," said Cáceres, adding that his brother had recently been killed by a drug dealer and that he and his family were under threat. He wants to seek asylum in the United States.
"What are we looking for? The American dream, like everyone here, he said, walking quickly.
The difficulty of walking has claimed vulnerable migrants. Dr. Trujillo examined a pregnant woman who fainted after walking for hours under the tropical heat, giving her water before taking her to an ambulance.
Mexican migration officials have largely remained on the sidelines. They send migrants who wish to apply for asylum in a shelter and then expel them if they do not meet the requirements.
"Someone wants to come with us voluntarily?" Asked a Mexican migration official to a group of 30 migrants who stopped to rest in the shade of a large ceiba tree. Nobody answered. The immigration officer turned around and left.
Irineo Mujica, a social activist who heads People Without Borders, a travel advocacy group, said the first caravan would be traveling to Mexico City in the coming weeks, after which many would continue on their journey to Mexico City. North.
"Central America has become hell. Donald Trump does not understand, "said Mujica, who began a hunger strike Monday to draw attention to the plight of migrants. The 48-year-old popular activist who admires Mahatma Gandhi and the leader of Hispanic agricultural workers César Chávez were shackled to a lamppost in front of a migrant detention center in Tapachula on Tuesday.
If the caravans of migrants finally arrive together in Mexico City, they could meet in the capital at the time of the inauguration of the elected president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, on December 1st.
Write to Juan Montes at [email protected]
