Caravan’s plea for buses is DENIED: Migrants must walk the remaining 900 miles to nearest US border as Mexico ignores demand for transports
First, biggest of the four caravans numbering 4,000 began its trek towards the Gulf of Mexico Thursday after a day of rest in Juchitan
Leaders were hoping to arrange dozens of buses to take them to Mexico City, but authorities refused to provide transport
Caravan is now on its way to Matias Romero en route to the Gulf coast city of Veracruz, which is a common transit route toward the nearest Mexico-US border crossing in McAllen, Texas
Organizers previously said their destination was Santa Maria Jalape del Marques in Oaxaca state, but they have decided to change the planned route
Second, smaller caravan is 200 miles behind the first, trekking from Tapachula to Huixtla, Mexico
A third band of about 500 from El Salvador made it to Escuintla, Guatemala, and a fourth group of about 2,000 traveling in two groups set out from the Salvadoran capital Wednesday
A Guatemalan woman gave birth to the first known caravan baby at a hospital in Juchitan
SNEJANA FARBEROV
DAILYMAIL.COM
1 November 2018
Exhausted men, women and children traveling in the largest of the four caravans headed to the US resumed their journey on foot before dawn Thursday after Mexican authorities refused to provide them with buses.
The migrants planned to take advantage of cool overnight and morning temperatures by hitting the road at 3am in Juchitan for a trek to the town of Matias Romero en route to the Gulf coast city of Veracruz, which is a common transit route toward the nearest Mexico-US border crossing in McAllen, Texas.
Organizers previously said their destination was Santa Maria Jalape del Marques in Oaxaca state, but they have decided to change the planned route.
The migrants will have to walk nearly 40 miles from Juchitan to Matias Romero, and from there it’s another 445 miles to Veracruz.
The participants of the 4,000-strong caravan have not said what route they intend to take northward or where on the US border they planned to reach, and Juchitan, still about 900 miles from US soil, was something of a crossroads.
Choosing Jalapa del Marques as the next stop appeared to indicate they are opting to travel via Oaxaca state’s eponymous capital instead of turning north toward the Gulf coast state of Veracruz, which is a common transit route toward McAllen, Texas.
On Wednesday evening it became clear that Mexican officials were not acceding to the caravan’s demand that dozens of buses be provided to whisk the migrants to Mexico City.
‘The attempt to travel by bus failed,’ caravan coordinator Walter Cuello acknowledged.
Taking a day off from days of walking in the heat Wednesday, migrants wandered around Juchitan looking for something to eat as classic songs by Mexican singer Vicente Fernandez, known as ‘the king of ranchera music,’ played in the background. Loudspeaker announcements discussed bathroom use and a prohibition on charging money to power their cellphones.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders praised Mexico for stopping the migrants from getting rides.
‘Mexico has stepped up in an unprecedented way,’ Sanders told Fox News yesterday. ‘They have helped stop a lot of the transportation means of these individuals in these caravans, forcing them walking. They have helped us in new ways to slow this down, to break this up and keep it from moving as aggressively toward the United States.’
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