A mass exodus of approximately 6,000 migrants, predominantly families with young children from various Latin American nations, including Cuba and Venezuela, embarked on a journey from Tapachula, a city on Mexico's border with Guatemala, on Sunday.
This news comes just days ahead of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's planned visit to Mexico, as reported by the Associated Press (AP). The security forces, it appears, did not obstruct the caravan, which is reportedly the largest in over a year.
Cristian Rivera, a Honduran migrant who left his wife and child behind, expressed his frustration to the AP, stating, "We've been waiting here for three or four months without an answer. Hopefully with this march there will be a change and we can get the permission we need to head north."
Blinken, accompanied by Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and White House Homeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall, is set to meet with Mexico's President Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador on Wednesday. The meeting's agenda, as per a statement by the U.S. Department of State, includes discussions on "unprecedented irregular migration" and "border security challenges."
Interestingly, a similar-sized caravan had marched northward in June 2022, coinciding with President Joe Biden's hosting of the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles. The summit saw the launch of the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection, aimed at improving living conditions to make irregular migration unnecessary. Notably, Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua were not signatories to this declaration.
Lpez Obrador, who had agreed in May to accept illegal Venezuelan, Cuban, and Nicaraguan migrants denied entry by the U.S., reiterated his commitment to help manage the migrant surge on Friday. However, he also urged the U.S. to resolve its issues with Cuba and increase development aid to the migrants' home countries, as noted by the AP.
The AP also reported that U.S. authorities have detained an average of 10,000 migrants daily at the southwest border, totaling over two million in the past two fiscal years. This situation underscores the escalating challenge of irregular migration and border security, which will likely be a focal point of Blinken's upcoming visit to Mexico.
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