Migrant caravan rests in Tapachula before continuing north

Edgar H. Clemente

Correspondent

The newspaper La Jornada
Tuesday, July 23, 2024, p. 10

Tapachula, Chis., The migrant caravan that left the Mexico-Guatemala border on Sunday rested yesterday in Tapachula and will continue its journey toward the northern border today.

Yesterday we walked for more than 12 hours, we were not moving forward, we were dragging our feet, imaginesaid Honduran America Hernandez.

The 56-year-old woman said she is traveling with the youngest of her three children in order to give a different life to her other children who stayed in Honduras, where she worked as a cleaner in homes and factories, but on a temporary basis and with a precarious salary.

Guatemalan Hugo Gomez, 29, decided to go in search of the American dream in the face of threats of crime in his country, where he worked as a private security agent, and to help his parents and an older sister who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer.

We will continue tomorrow until we reach where God tells us, we will cross the border and give a better life to my family, my parents and my brothers.he said.

Clara Ramírez, from El Salvador, decided to join the caravan with her husband and two little girls, one six years old and the other a one-year-old baby, because in her country they have suffered the threat of crime. She recalled that five years ago one of her 15-year-old brothers disappeared and his whereabouts are still unknown.

Only one knows the pain of losing a loved one, we would not want it to happen again and we do not wish it on anyone. So far we have no news of him, we know of people who were involved, but the police do not help you without proof, sometimes it is better to leave it to the justice of God.she said while waiting in line to receive medical care for herself and her baby.

For Felipe Garcia, 40, it was not easy to make the decision to leave his wife and four children in Honduras; however, poverty forced him to undertake the journey to the United States. The Central American’s first objective is to reach Mexico City to begin the process through the CBP One application.

I’m going alone, and just like us, who don’t have anyone to support us in the United States, there are those who have their relatives and friends, but I’m going to try with the application, it’s the only option.he explained.

The contingent of more than a thousand people from Central, South America and the Caribbean who left the municipality of Suchiate early Sunday morning decided to camp in Bicentennial Park, where a health brigade provided medical care to women and children, mainly.

They hope that more foreigners will join, who have also been stranded in Tapachula for months waiting for their regularization procedures with the National Migration Institute and the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance.