The convoy is moving – Photo: STR/AFP
Following the incident that occurred two years ago, another migrant caravan left the city of Tapachula in southern Mexico on Christmas Eve, heading to the southern border of the United States of America.
The number of the procession is estimated at about seven thousand people, but it is constantly increasing. There are many children among the passersby, BBC writes.
According to local media, most of the migrants came from Cuba, Haiti and Honduras, but some also came from Bangladesh and India. The leaders of the march carried a banner reading “Out of Poverty.”
According to the BBC, many said they decided to join the convoy after waiting months to obtain transit permits.
Migrant rights activist Luis Garcia Villagran, who accompanied the caravan, said many migrants stranded in Tapachula had no other choice.
“The problem is that the southern (Guatemala) border of Mexico is open and between 800 and 1,000 people cross it every day. If we don’t get out of Tapachula, the city will collapse,” Villagran said.
The convoy travels along the coastal highway, covering 15 kilometers on the first day.
These people left a few days before US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken met with the Mexican president to discuss reducing mass migration.
Recently, several border crossings between the United States and Mexico have been closed due to the wave of migrants.
The number of illegal immigrants arrested at the southern border of the United States exceeded two million in 2022 and 2023.
According to data from the US Department of Homeland Security, in September 2023 alone, US Border Patrol apprehended more than 200,000 migrants who crossed the US-Mexico border illegally.
