Migrants rest after trudge north

JUCHITAN, Mexico - Thousands of Central American migrants in a caravan traveling through Mexico planned to take a break for at least a day or longer in the southern city of Juchitan beginning on Wednesday, hoping to organize mass transport northward after days of hard walking in tropical temperatures that have left them about 1,448 kilometers from the nearest US border crossing.

A second smaller group of 1,000 or so migrants who forced their way into Mexico on Monday was trailing about 400 km back, stopping for the night in the city of Tapachula.

At a Tuesday evening assembly, participants in the bigger group named a committee to negotiate with Mexican authorities over a possible "bridge plan" that could leapfrog them to Mexico's capital by bus. There was no indication from officials whether the request to transport the perhaps 4,000 people remaining in the group would be granted.

Starting out in Honduras more than two weeks ago, the migrants have spent their nights camping out in the main squares of small cities in the southern states of Chiapas and now Oaxaca.

But a deadly earthquake last year destroyed Juchitan's central market, prompting it to be provisionally moved to the main square - meaning there was no room for them there.

Instead, they spent the night on a municipal-owned lot on the outskirts of town where a high ceiling sheltered a cement floor. Outside the structure many more bedded down on blankets or cardboard sheets in the grass, with some lashing tarps to the foliage for rudimentary shelter.

Full tanks of water were set up for people to be able to bathe, and a large video screen showed soccer programs and then cartoons for the kids.

The two groups combined represent just a few days' worth of the average flow of migrants to the United States. Similar caravans have occurred regularly over the years, passing largely unnoticed, but the new ones have become a hot-button political issue amid an unprecedented pushback from US President Donald Trump.

With just a week to US midterm elections, the Pentagon has announced it will deploy 5,200 troops to the Southwest border, and Trump has continued to tweet and speak about the migrants. On Monday he said he wants to build tent cities to house asylum-seekers.

"According to what they say, we are not going to be very welcome at the border," Honduran migrant Levin Guillen said when asked about Trump. "But we are going to try."

Worn down from long miles of walking and frustrated by the slow progress, many migrants have been dropping out and returning home or applying for protected status in Mexico. The initial group is already significantly diminished from its estimated peak at over 7,000-strong. A caravan in the spring ultimately fizzled to just about 200 people who reached the US border at San Diego.

Deputy foreign ministers from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico met on Tuesday and agreed to coordinate "special attention" for the caravans, guaranteeing human rights, humanitarian assistance and "a safe, orderly and regular migration" in accordance with each country's laws.

Associated Press

(China Daily 11/01/2018 page11)