CIUDAD HIDALGO, Mexico: Thousands of Honduran migrants whose journey towards the United States has triggered a series of tirades from Donald Trump resumed their long march on Sunday after crossing a river into Mexico.
Mexican authorities on Thursday had managed to block the “caravan” of migrants on a border bridge between Mexico and Guatemala, but many later crossed a river below using makeshift rafts — regrouping early on Sunday to march north.
“No one is going to stop us, after all we’ve gone through” said 21-year-old Aaron Juarez, who was accompanied by his wife and baby and was walking with difficulty because of an injury.
“We are tired, but very happy, we are united and strong,” added Edwin Geovanni Enamorado, a Honduran farmer who was part of the caravan, who said he was forced to leave his country because of intimidation by racketeering gangs.
The caravan left San Pedro Sula in northern Honduras — 700 kilometres to the south — last weekend, following a call on social networks relayed by a former Honduran deputy.
On Sunday morning, about a thousand migrants, including women and children, were still stranded on a border bridge hoping to enter Mexico legally via Guatemala.
Mexican authorities insisted those on the bridge would have to file asylum claims one at a time in order to enter the country.
The authorities opened the border to women and children who were then taken to a shelter in the city of Tapachula, about 40 kilometres from Ciudad Hidalgo, Mexico.
Throughout on Saturday, around 900 migrants — tired of waiting on the bridge — resorted to crossing the Suchiate River below on makeshift rafts and police did not intervene as they clambered up the muddy riverbank on the Mexican side.
They are now heading to Tapachula, the next stop on a journey of at least 3,000 kilometres to the border between Mexico and the United States.
The caravan has triggered escalating anti-immigrant rhetoric from US President Donald Trump on Twitter.
He has threatened to cut aid to the region, deploy the military and close the US-Mexican border if authorities did not stop the migrants.
At a rally on Saturday, he suggested the caravan was politically motivated. — AFP
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
