Another caravan of migrants meets in Guatemala
Another caravan of migrants meets in Guatemala
HUIXTLA, Mexico. Even when a caravan of thousands of Honduran migrants makes its way through southern Mexico, another caravan is forming in its path.
Thousands of Honduran migrants gathered in a Guatemalan city near the Honduran border on Tuesday to prepare for a new caravan that would follow in the footsteps of a larger group currently marching to the US-Mexico border, which represents a new challenge for Guatemalan and Mexican authorities seeking To contain an increase in mass migration.
Charities run by churches that assist migrants and activists say that up to 2,500 Hondurans who crossed into Guatemala in recent days have gathered in the city of Chiquimula, near the border with Honduras. But estimates of the size of the new group vary widely, from that number to a few hundred, according to Francesca Fontanini, spokesperson for the Americas region of the United Nations for refugees.
The Central American migrants who cross the Suchiate River from Guatemala to Mexico in a raft on Tuesday while trying to join a caravan of migrants heading to the US. UU
Photo:
ueslei marcelino / Reuters
The migrants say they plan to go to Ciudad Tecún Uman, the Guatemalan border city that was overwhelmed by a larger group of migrants who rushed to Mexico during the weekend.
Some 5,000 migrants are already Marching north in the state of Chiapas, southern Mexico.According to Mexican authorities, while about 1,700 Hondurans who requested asylum were sent to a shelter administered by Mexican immigration authorities in the city of Tapachula, near the border with Guatemala. Hundreds of them traveled with children and babies.
Migrant charity workers say that the increase in new caravans could indicate a new dynamic as migrants come together to try to avoid hiring human smugglers, known as coyotes, who charge between $ 4,000 and $ 8,000 per person. for dangerous trips to the southern border of the USA. UU
Another crucial factor: large caravans are also much safer for migrants when they cross some of the most murderous countries in the world.
"What we are seeing now is that migrants are leaving in large mass groups as a way to protect themselves and to protest against the critical conditions they face in their country, people who simply can not survive," said Karla Rivas, group coordinator. charitable Jesuit Migrant Network in the Honduran city of El Progreso.
The migratory caravans are a relatively new phenomenon and seem to be gaining ground as an option for people fleeing Central America since the April caravan organized by a group called People Without Borders was pushed to the public by President Trump, said Adam Isacson, a researcher who studies defense and migration trends in the Washington Office in Latin America.
Honduran migrants camp during a stop on Tuesday in Huixtla, Mexico.
Photo:
johan ordonez / Agence France-Presse / Getty Images
The previous caravans, including the one organized around Easter each year since 2011 by the same group, passed without much fanfare from the media and were not intended to transport migrants to the United States, but to highlight the dangers faced by migrants on his way through Mexico.
"This offers a low-cost alternative" to pay a smuggler, Isacson said.
Ms. Rivas said that migrants are gathering in shelters before their planned trip to the border crossing in Ciudad Tecun Uman, the epicenter of a regional migration crisis that overwhelmed the Mexican and Guatemalan security forces on Friday.
The new caravans could be inspired by the current caravan in southern Mexico. Last weekend, Mexican police he tried to stop the big group Since they entered the country, they said they would only allow between 150 and 200 asylum seekers per day. But most scurried across the border on makeshift rafts.
The Mexican government has said it will not use force against illegal immigrants, but warned that those who do not comply with Mexico's immigration laws will not achieve their goal of reaching the US. UU
María Amparo Acevedo, a migrant shelter worker in the outskirts of Chiquimula, said on Tuesday that smaller groups of Honduran migrants, from 30 to 160 people, had been arriving at the shelter in recent days, and several of them left the night. of Monday. to join what they described as larger groups.
A migrant in a shelter said by telephone that he had left San Pedro Sula, one of the largest and most violent cities in Honduras, by bus at nine o'clock on Monday morning and arrived in Chiquimula on Tuesday with six companions. He planned to join larger groups along the migrants' road to test his chances of reaching Mexico from the United States border.
"We would like to join others, but if we can not, we will risk it, only the seven," he said.
Meanwhile, in Mexico, hundreds of migrants tired of the bones of Honduras stretched out on the streets and in the central plaza of the Huixtla village in southern Mexico, seeking refuge from a ruthless sun while they waited to resume a long march towards US personnel Cross-treated migrants for blisters on the feet and dehydration such as salsa music sounded from nearby speakers.
At a kiosk in the central plaza, about a dozen volunteers from a local evangelical church delivered plastic bottles of water to the migrants. "We offer breakfast, lunch and dinner, and medical help," said Faustino Gallegos, a volunteer. The group also organizes workshops for children and organizes ultrasounds for pregnant women, he added.
The migrants in Huixtla planned to walk to the city of Mapastepec, about 40 miles north, early Wednesday, organizers said.
At the town hall, separate rows of men and women lined up to get free tacos, while the workers handed out bottles of water. "Huixtla is a town that knows how to give without receiving anything in return," shouted a municipal employee at the microphone.
Mayor Jose Luis Laparra said the city has spent about $ 9,000 on food, water, medical assistance and security for the 6,000 migrants it estimates to have camped in the town square and adjacent streets. He expects many more caravans to lower the pike.
"Another 3,000 more migrants are arriving. They see that when they get together they can not be stopped, "he said.
-Robbie Whelan in Mexico City contributed to this article.
Write to Santiago Pérez in santiago.perez@wsj.com and José de Córdoba in jose.decordoba@wsj.com
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