As they make their way towards the United States border, a caravan of 3,000 migrants are expected to descend upon a Mexican city. Their leaders have refused humanitarian visas to women and children.
The caravan set off on its journey to the United States border last weekend when it left Tapachula, a southern Chiapas city that borders with Guatemala. Due to heavy rains, the caravan spent the last 30 hours in Mapastepec.
The caravan of migrants set off before dawn to walk the 29-mile distance from Mapastepec towards Pijijiapan. Later today, they rejected an offer by Mexico for humanitarian visas for children and women.
Mexico’s National Institute of Migration last Thursday announced that it would provide humanitarian visas to children and women. But organizers of the caravan, billed as Madre Caravana’ (or ‘Caravan of all Mothers), were criticized for rejecting the offer.
Under the visas, migrant children and women would have their legal status temporarily legalized. This would allow them to freely travel across the country, as well as accessing healthcare and work permits.
A migrant girl is carried by her father on Monday as a caravan of about 3,000 asylum seekers from Africa, the Caribbean, Central America and South America walked through Ernestina de Montes, a town located in Mapastepec, a municipality in the southern state of Chiapas, on Monday
A migrant carrying an American flag wrapped around his neck walks along with a caravan of migrants in Chiapas, Mexico on Monday. The group, about 3,000 people, including 1,200 children, spent the last 30 hours in the Chiapas city of Mapastepec and on Monday morning took off on a 29-mile walk to the municipality of Pijijiapan
A woman with fever walks to rest from walking during a caravan ride in Chiapas, Mexico.
Recent rejection by Caravan leaders of a humanitarian visa offer was a result of claims the administration of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador had failed to keep promises to help them in the past.
Monday’s statement from the National Institute of Migration read, “Reiterates the call for the members of the caravan that they accept the issuance of visit cards for humanitarian purposes, especially for the most fragile such as pregnant women, girls, and boys.”
The caravan plans to stop in Mexico City to apply for humanitarian visas for each of the 3,000 migrants, not just women and children.
A migrant carrying a child in his arms as the caravan of around 3,000 people from southern Mexico resumed its journey towards the United States border on Monday. The group began trekking by foot on October 23rd. It left Tapachula, Chiapas, to cross with Guatemala. They had spent the previous 30 hours in Mapastepec, due to heavy rains.
Migrants were crammed on a pickup truck as they traveled Monday from the Chiapas city of Mapastepec to Pijijiapan on Monday
Mapastepec is a city in the southern Mexican state Chiapas, where migrants are walking in a caravan heading to the United States. The group insists on reaching Mexico City to seek asylum and refugee status.
Migrants from Africa, the Caribbean, Central America and South America walk through the Chiapas town of Nueva Milenio Valdivia on Monday after resuming their journey by foot to the United States. Mexico’s National Institute of Migration reported Monday that at most six people, including five children had developed dengue fever.
The agency made the announcement as it was learning that at least six people, including five kids, were suffering from dengue. T
Two minors, an El Salvadoran eight-year old and a Honduran nine-year old, were taken to Mapastepec Rural Hospital in Mapastepec. The parents of the three other children refused to admit them, saying they needed to continue with the caravan.
The Mexican government has not yet said whether further attempts will be made to disintegrate the caravan.
At least three other caravans did not advance from southern Mexico in September and August. Security forces and agents of the National Institute of Migration were criticised for their tough tactics in stopping the flow of migrants. Many of these migrants are fleeing poverty and violence in their home countries and seeking asylum protection.
Nearly 3,000 migrants were seen returning to southern Mexico Monday morning, making their way towards the United States border.
A family of migrants rests at Mapastepec in Mexico on Monday. This is where most of those 3,000 who are part of the latest caravan returned to their journey to the U.S. border.
Mexico’s National Institute of Migration stated Monday that it “reiterates its call to the caravan members to accept the issuance of visitor card for humanitarian reasons, particularly for the most vulnerable such as girls, adolescents, and pregnant women.”
Luis Villagran was one of the leaders in the caravan made up of migrants from Africa and Central America. He told Reuters that many of them were tired from long-distance travel.
Villagran stated, “There are more that 150 boys and girls who cannot walk anymore.” ‘There are pregnant woman with sores on the feet who can’t walk anymore. We estimate that there are 90 women who are in a critical situation.
Last week, Mexican government data showed that the number of detained foreign migrants rose to 41,000 in September from 32,000 just a month before. This is compared to just over 82,000 in 2020.
A migrant child rests with an adult companion while camping out in Nuevo Milenio Valdivia, a town in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas on Monday
After the death of a Cuban migrant, the resumption is taking place at the U.S. border. The National Guard fired on his pickup truck on Sunday at a Pijijiapan checkpoint.
At least two other migrants were also hurt, whose nationalities have not yet been revealed.
It is unknown if the caravan’s group, which included eight Cubans, three Ghanians, and a Brazilian, was part or not of the caravan.
Migrants traveling together in a caravan of 3,000 people headed towards the Chiapas city of Pijijiapan take time to rest in the Mapastepec town of Nuevo Milenio Valdivia on Monday
According to local media outlets, the incident occurred after the guards instructed the driver at the checkpoint to pull over on a road linking the towns of Margaritas and Echegaray in the municipality of Pijijiapan Sunday at 6:14 PM local time.
Manuel Guillermo ‘N, the motorist, refused to stop, collided with a National Guard vehicle, and then accelerated, forcing the guardsmen fire at the motorist’s pickup truck.
The Chiapas State Attorney General’s Office identified the fatal victim as Cristóbal ‘N’ and revealed that his body, which was found lying on the vehicle’s flatbed, showed signs that he had been struck by multiple bullets.
As of Monday afternoon no arrests were made.