Caravan of 3,000 Migrants Blocks Highway in Protest
About 3,000 migrants from Central America, Venezuela, Cuba and Haiti on Wednesday blocked traffic on one of Mexico’s main southern highways to demand transit or exit visas to reach the U.S. border.
The caravan of migrants set out on foot from the city of Tapachula, near the Guatemalan border, on Oct. 30, walking north toward the U.S.
The group later stopped walking at Huixtla, another town in the southern state of Chiapas, where they tried to get temporary travel documents to cross Mexico.
On Wednesday, the migrants blocked highway inspection booths just outside Huixtla.
Activist Irineo Mújica, one of the organizers of the march, said the blockade would continue because migrants are afraid of criminals, smugglers and extortionists who could prey on them if they continue walking.
Many migrants would also prefer to take buses but are often prevented from doing so if they don’t have papers.
“We know we are causing discomfort for Mexicans, and we apologize,” Mújica said. “But the drug cartels are kidnapping us, killing us.”
The Mexican government’s Refugee Aid Commission issued a statement late Tuesday pointing out that it does not issue transit visas.
The current caravan was among the largest since June 2022. Migrant caravans in 2018 and 2019 drew far greater attention. But with as many as 10,000 migrants showing up at the U.S. border in recent weeks, the Oct. 30 march is now just a drop in the bucket.
The southwestern border of the U.S. has struggled to cope with increasing numbers of migrants from South America who move through the Darien Gap between Colombia and Panama before heading north.
By September, 420,000 migrants, aided by Colombian smugglers, had passed through the gap this year to date, Panamanian figures showed.
The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.
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