Many members of a new caravan of hundreds of migrants–mostly Haitian–which started out last Friday from the southern Mexican town of Tapachula, have turned back.
The migrants had begun their trek after protesting that the Mexican government had reneged on a promise to relocate them to other parts of the country. Thousands of migrants have been waiting for months in Tapachula, having crossed successfully into Mexico but then becoming bogged down in Mexican regulations. The protests in recent days had led to the illegal blocking of streets, prompting the authorities to relocate some but not all of the migrants. Those left behind formed the ill-fated caravan headed north, with the intention of joining another large caravan in Mapastepec, 60 miles away.
Within a day on the roads, however, the migrants began to tire and sicken, resulting in the about-face. One told Reuters:
“I’m going [back] to Tapachula because they’re not taking care of us. Everything’s tough, the money has run out, nobody wants to help us. We tried [to advance] in the caravan but couldn’t. I don’t know what we’re going to live on without work.”
Exact numbers of migrants who turned around and of those who kept going are unavailable, but hundreds, like the one interviewed by Reuters, appear to have called it quits early in the trip.
For more, see Reuters.