TAPACHULA, Mexico, Oct 22, 2018 (AFP) – Thousands of Honduran migrants
whose trek toward the United States has triggered tirades from US President
Donald Trump prepared to continue their march Monday after a second night in
Mexico.
Mexican authorities had managed to block the “caravan” of migrants on a
border bridge between Mexico and Guatemala, but many later crossed the river
below in makeshift rafts before marching north.
After walking seven hours from the Guatemalan border, around 3,000
migrants arrived in Tapachula, Chiapas state, Sunday.
On Monday, the caravan’s next stop on the journey of at least 3,000
kilometers (1,800 miles) was Huixtla, a town around 40 kilometers away.
“We are well aware that this country (Mexico) didn’t receive us as we
expected, and they can return us to Honduras, and we also know there are drug
traffickers who kidnap and kill migrants,” Juan Flores, one of those
migrants, told AFP.
“But we live with more fear in our country, so we carry on forward,” he
added.
Activists say the journey through Mexico to the US border can take a
month — and an irate Trump insisted Sunday that “full efforts” were underway
to halt the caravan’s progress.
“Full efforts are being made to stop the onslaught of illegal aliens from
crossing our Souther(n) Border,” Trump tweeted.
“People have to apply for asylum in Mexico first, and if they fail to do
that, the US will turn them away.”
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also warned that the migrants “may be
victimized by human smugglers or others who would exploit them.”
“We also are deeply concerned by the violence provoked by some members of
the group, as well as the apparent political motivation of some organizers of
the caravan,” Pompeo said in a statement.
About a thousand migrants, including women and children, were still
stranded on a border bridge hoping to enter Mexico legally via Guatemala.
Mexican authorities insisted those on the bridge would have to file
asylum claims one at a time in order to enter the country.
And another separate group of about 1,000 Hondurans started their own
march across Guatemala, headed for Mexico and then the United States. The
group of men, women and children gathered in Esquipulas before setting out on
foot.
-‘No stopping us’-
“No one is going to stop us, after all we’ve gone through,” said 21-
year-old Aaron Juarez, who was accompanied by his wife and baby and was
walking with difficulty because of an injury.
Honduran farmer Edwin Geovanni Enamorado said he was forced to leave his
country because of intimidation by racketeering gangs.
“We are tired, but very happy, we are united and strong,” he said.
Britany Hernandez added: “We have sunburn. We have blisters. But we got
here. Our strength is greater than Trump’s threats.”
Mexico’s President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador called for fair
treatment of the migrants.
“We don’t want them to face what (Mexicans) face when they need to look
for work in the United States,” he said on Twitter.
The caravan left San Pedro Sula in northern Honduras more than a week
ago.
It has comprised between 3,000 and 5,000 people at various times as it
moved through Guatemala, according to various sources.
Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales said more than 5,000 migrants had
entered Guatemala from Honduras, but that some 2,000 had since returned home.
Officials of the national disaster management agency, CONRED, told AFP
that more than 1,000 Hondurans had left the caravan between Friday and
Sunday, taken home on a fleet of buses laid on by the Guatemalan government.
On Saturday, Mexican authorities had opened the border for women and
children on the overcrowded bridge, taking them to a shelter in Tapachula,
about 40 kilometers from Ciudad Hidalgo.
Plenty of migrants, however, are sleeping in the streets for fear that
immigration officials could arrest them if they are in a shelter.
– Rafting the river –
Around 900 migrants — tired of waiting on the bridge — resorted to
crossing the Suchiate River below on makeshift rafts and police did not
intervene as they clambered up the muddy riverbank on the Mexican side on
Saturday.
Morales and his Honduran counterpart Juan Orlando Hernandez said after
meeting that the march was “violating the borders and the good faith of the
states.”
The Honduran president acknowledged that social problems were a
contributory factor.
“Without a doubt, we have a lot to do so that our people can have
opportunities in their communities,” he said.
The migrants are generally fleeing poverty and insecurity in Honduras,
where powerful street gangs rule their turf with brutal violence.
With a homicide rate of 43 per 100,000 citizens, Honduras is one of the
most violent countries in the world, according to a Honduran university
study.