Thousands Join Huge Migrant Caravan in Mexico, Heading to the US
A sprawling caravan of migrants from central and southern America has set off through Mexico heading north towards the United States border.
The Christmas eve caravan departed from the southern Mexican city of Tapachula, near the country’s southern border with Guatemala.
Up to 8,000 people of all ages, mainly from Venezuela, Cuba and Mexico, are part of the procession following a banner which reads “poverty exodus”.
It comes days before US secretary of state Antony Blinken is due to arrive in Mexico city to strike new agreements to control migration.
On Friday, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said he was willing to work again with the us to address concerns about migration.
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The Mexican leader is due to meet the us secretary of state on Wednesday.
The problem is that the southern border [with Guatemala] is open and 800 to 1,000 people are crossing it daily. If we don’t get out of Tapachula, the town will collapse.
We tell the Mexican state that it has left us no other option but to take the coastal highway and walk as far as we can get, he said.
The migrants covered some 15km on the first morning, after setting off at dawn on 24 December.
One Honduran migrant said he had left his home country to escape a criminal gang which had threatened to kill him.
José Santos told Reuters news agency: I was scared so I decided to come to Mexico hoping I’ll be allowed to go to the US.
On Friday, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said he was willing to work again with the US to address concerns about migration.
The Mexican leader is due to meet the US secretary of state on Wednesday.
Their meeting comes at a time when the surge in immigration is a hot political topic in the US with pressure mounting on President Biden to stem the flow across the US southern border.
