In a significant development, approximately 3,000 migrants from Central America, Venezuela, Cuba, and Haiti brought traffic to a standstill on a major southern highway in Mexico on Wednesday.
The migrants demanded transit or exit visas to facilitate their journey to the U.S. border.
The migrant caravan, which included a significant number of women and children, embarked on their journey on foot from Tapachula, a city near the Guatemalan border, on October 30. Their destination: the U.S. border. The group later halted their march at Huixtla, another town in the southern state of Chiapas, in an attempt to secure temporary travel documents to traverse Mexico.
The migrants escalated their protest on Wednesday by blocking highway inspection booths on the outskirts of Huixtla. Activist Irineo Mjica, one of the march's organizers, declared that the blockade would persist. The migrants' fear of falling prey to criminals, smugglers, and extortionists if they continued their journey on foot was cited as a primary reason. Mjica also noted that many migrants would prefer to travel by bus, but the lack of proper documentation often prevents them from doing so.
"We are aware that we are causing inconvenience to Mexicans, and we apologize," Mjica stated. "However, drug cartels are abducting and murdering us."
Herson Fernndez, a Honduran migrant traveling with his wife and three children, expressed their dire situation. With tears in his eyes, he revealed that they had exhausted their funds. "The authorities are not providing us with answers or documents," Fernndez lamented. "Our goal is to reach the United States because it promises a brighter future for our children. We are undertaking this journey for their sake."
However, the Mexican government's Refugee Aid Commission clarified in a statement on Tuesday that it does not issue transit visas. The current caravan is one of the largest since June 2022. While migrant caravans in 2018 and 2019 garnered more attention, the recent surge of as many as 10,000 migrants at the U.S. border has overshadowed the October 30 march.
Historically, Mexico's strategy has been to wait for the marchers to tire and then offer them transportation back to their home countries or to smaller, alternative processing centers. Meanwhile, the U.S.'s southwestern border is grappling with an influx of South American migrants who swiftly traverse the Darien Gap between Colombia and Panama before heading north. As of September, Panamanian data revealed that 420,000 migrants, assisted by Colombian smugglers, had crossed the gap this year.
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