Migration - Mexico: Thousands of migrants start caravan towards the USA
Several thousand migrants have formed a caravan in southern Mexico to march north towards the USA.
Around 5,000 people set off on Christmas Eve after a prayer in the city of Tapachula in the state of Chiapas on the border with Guatemala, as the Mexican newspaper "Milenio" reported, citing the local civil defense. The migrants mainly came from countries such as Venezuela, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Haiti. At the head of the procession, one participant carried a white cross.
They accused the Mexican immigration authority INM of failing to process their applications in Tapachula. "We are telling the Mexican state that it is leaving us no other option but to walk until the INM grants the immigration permits," said activist Luis García Villagrán from the Center for Human Dignity, who coordinated the caravan. According to reports, the group's destination is first Mexico City, then the northern border.
Mexico is on the migration route of people trying to reach the USA. They are fleeing poverty, violence or political crises in their home countries. For some years now, migrants in the region have increasingly formed groups or caravans to protect themselves from violence and deportation, but these often disband after some time.
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Source: www.stern.de
