With surveillance by vehicles in the forefront and rear, the caravan walks the first kilometers of a journey of about 1,160 kilometers.
The new caravan made up of some 6,000 migrants, mostly from Central American countries and Haiti, resumed its march through the state of Chiapas, in southern Mexico, on Sunday, but it is advancing at a slow pace and under strict surveillance by migration agents and of the National Guard.
On their second day of travel, still very close to the border with Guatemala, the migrants seek to complete about 15 kilometers, the distance they traveled on Saturday, and remain firm in their intention to reach Mexico City and then head towards the United States.
After spending the night and resting in the community of Álvaro Obregón, still in the city of Tapachula, this Sunday at 8:00 a.m. (1:00 p.m. GMT) the group of migrants headed to the highway towards the municipality of Huehuetán.
Although their initial intention is to leave the state of Chiapas, which will take them several days to travel, the goal of foreigners is to reach the Mexican capital to regularize their situation before the National Migration Institute (INM).
With surveillance by vehicles in the forefront and rear, the caravan walks the first kilometers of a journey of about 1,160 kilometers to the Mexican capital.
“Ready for anything”
“This march is for freedom, we go with God, he is the one who is guiding us and we have the idea of reaching the United States,” Cuban Pablo Iván Cifrian told Efe, who assured that he does not mind walking. “10, 20, 30 and 50, 100 or 1,000 kilometers ”.
In addition, he commented that to reach their goal they are “willing to break down barriers and whatever lies ahead” since their goal is to reach Mexico City with this contingent.
Meanwhile, the Honduran Kari Pineda said that she joined the caravan to escape the poverty, insecurity and corruption that exists in her country and in search of better opportunities.
“We hope to come to the United States to work and give our children a better future,” he said.
Pineda’s idea is to come to the United States to look for work and earn money to be able to build a house for his children since the one he had was destroyed by the passage of hurricanes in 2020.
Meanwhile, Denis, a Cuban traveling with his wife, said that they both have passports but joined the caravan to reach Mexico City and begin their legal stay in the country.
Most of the travelers report a lack of attention from the Mexican authorities to comply with procedures in the country and some, with more than a year in Chiapas, went out on the road in response to the containment policy that the Government has deployed in the city of Tapachula. , on the border with Guatemala.
Lack of political will
The NGO Pueblo Sin Fronteras denounced “the conversion of Tapachula, Chiapas, into a prison city.”
In a statement, the organization said that “thousands of migrants have been trapped in this city, which does not have the resources or the political will to attend to their needs and guarantee their human rights.”
He pointed out that the Mexican Government has acted under pressure and economic threat from the United States and therefore uses “deception and bureaucratic obstacles” of the Commission for Aid to Refugees (Comar) along with corruption, abuse and arbitrary deportations of the National Institute of Migration ( INM).
In addition, it considered that it uses the military force of the National Guard (GN) “to detain, through coercion and violence, people in need of freedom of movement and international protection. It is necessary and just that the anti-immigrant prison fence of Tapachula be broken ”.
So as not to be surprised by the authorities, the caravan seeks to advance at the same pace and wait for women and children to prevent them from being left behind and being detained.
This group was launched after the Mexican authorities thwarted the advance of four migrant caravans that also left Tapachula in early September.
At the time, several UN agencies and NGOs criticized the use of force in the operations to disintegrate the caravans.
The region has experienced an unprecedented migratory wave since the beginning of the year, with a historical flow of 147,000 undocumented persons detected in Mexico from January to August, triple that of 2020. (I)
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