Migrants: 1,200 leave southern Mexico to join the largest caravan of the year

More than 1,200 migrantsmostly Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans, left this Sunday walking in a new caravan from Tapachula, in the south of Mexico, to join the concentration of 8,000 people on the move who hope for possible benefits from the dialogue with immigration authorities this Monday.

The migrant settlement left on October 30 and traveled almost 50 kilometers in three days to Huixtla, another town in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas.

The contingent was organized a month ago and its main objective is to obtain documents for legal transit to the northern border of Mexico with United Statess.

After their arrival last Wednesday, the almost 8,000 migrants settled under a dome, sewed their lips, burned piñatas with the image of the head of the National Migration Institute (INM), Francisco Garduño and now they wait closely for this new caravan. of 1,200 people in transit.

Irineo Mujica, director of Pueblos Sin Fronteras (PSF), explained that, through the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), they will seek a rapprochement with the immigration authorities to find a solution and can grant Multiple Migration Forms (FMM), for 20 or 45 days.

“This is the second caravan, the second number of people who have decided to leave the Tapachula prison,” he criticized the delay of immigration authorities in providing a solution to the thousands of migrants who are stranded on the Mexican border with Guatemala.

Mujica also demanded to address the humanitarian crisis, as he warned that the migratory flow towards Mexico continues, exposing migrants to undertake a journey along dangerous and undocumented routes.

In this sense, the director of PSF asked the Mexican Government to evaluate its staff, who, he stated, “are not working, we have seen other Migration delegates who worked half-heartedly and the current one has abandoned the migration crisis and there is no response ”.

Julio Lorenzo, a migrant from Nicaragua, said that they have been waiting in Tapachula for days and now that the caravan has left, “it is a matter of walking and looking for a better quality of life.”

He said that the situation in his country is complicated, difficult and there are problems of persecution that harm them.

“Now that the caravan is going, thank God, we are all together, a little tired, but we are moving forward, that is the idea of ​​getting to Huixtla, looking for a job, because we don’t want to be a burden on the country,” he told EFE.

In Nicaragua, this migrant, who carries a suitcase and walks slowly with his family, was a farmer and peasant and claims that he fled because of the dictatorship.

Another migrant from Venezuela, Jonás Lamas, who entered through the Guatemala border, indicated that, due to the crisis and the migratory wave, they have to walk in a caravan to avoid being detained.

“The objective is to get to Huixtla, to request the document with the other people to be able to circulate with a 45-day permit,” he explained.

Without papers, Lamas lived in Colombia for 6 years, then left as a result of the crisis in Venezuela, where he worked in the construction industry and as a public transportation driver.

This is the second migrant caravan, but it will be the most difficult because they will have to walk 50 kilometers in a single day, although some groups have considered taking breaks and others prefer to move forward.