Migrant Caravan Coordinator Says Demand for Mexico to Provide Transportation Has ‘Failed’

One of the leaders of the main migrant caravan working its way north through Mexico to the United States said that their demand of Mexican authorities to provide transportation for exhausted migrants has failed.

After rejecting the Mexican government’s offer of identification documents, jobs, and education that could lead to a permanent situation for the migrants, organizers told officials they wanted the government to provide free buses so the group could quickly reach Mexico City and keep the caravan from dwindling as some migrants have become too tired to press on.

Mexican Interior Secretary Alfonso Navarrete Prida said about 2,300 migrants have applied to stay in Mexico under a government plan, and hundreds more have accepted assisted repatriation.

Mexican authorities didn’t organize transportation. “The attempt to travel by bus failed,” coordinator Walter Cuello said.

A migrant caravan walks into the interior of Mexico after crossing the Guatemalan border near Ciudad Hidalgo, Mexico on Oct. 21, 2018. John Moore/Getty Images

“Today there was the possibility to have 70 buses from various sources of support that under pressure of the Mexican government withdrew their support, leaving the exodus no choice but to continue on foot towards Veracruz, a state of high risk of violence at the hands of criminal organizations,” the coordinators said in a statement obtained by the Arizona Republic.

In Washington on Wednesday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders praised Mexico for helping prevent the thousands-strong caravan from getting a ride straight to the U.S. border. “Mexico has stepped up in an unprecedented way,” Sanders told Fox News. “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.”

The main caravan, estimated at one point to have been around 8,500 people, resumed its trek through Mexico on Nov. 1 after organizers said the group was shifting its route toward the Gulf coast, a path closer to the Texas border.

The migrants set out before dawn after taking a day’s break in the Oaxaca state city of Juchitan. The activists said they would try to reach the town of Matias Romero, about 40 miles ahead. The migrants have not said what route they intend to take northward or where on the U.S. border they planned to cross, and Juchitan, still about 900 miles from U.S. soil, was something of a crossroads.

A truck carrying mostly Honduran migrants taking part in a caravan heading to the US drives from Santiago Niltepec to Juchitan, near the town of La Blanca in Oaxaca State, Mexico, on Oct. 30, 2018. Guillermo Arias/AFP/Getty Images

The route via Matias Romero would carry the caravan toward the Gulf coast city of Veracruz and a route to the Texas border. This route is well-traveled, versus an alternate one running through Oaxaca that runs along curvy, mountainous roads through small towns.

The large caravan this time has struggled to maintain its numbers and meal times have gotten chaotic recently, reported the Arizona Republic, as migrants rush to grab plates before the food runs out, leaving some hungry. In one case, migrants beat an official in Tapanatepec several days ago after he urged migrants to patiently wait their turn. The chaos prompted organizers to appoint 100 “trusted members” of the caravan to try to help keep order.

Photographs and video footage have shown the migrants successfully hitching rides along the way, speeding up their travels, despite their failure to get transportation from the Mexican government.

Migrants from El Salvador start on their way to the United States, in San Salvador, El Salvador, Oct. 31, 2018. AP Photo/Diana Ulloa

Other Caravans

The second migrant caravan, which has been estimated by U.S. officials to be thousands of migrants, reached Huixtla on Nov. 1 after forcing their way illegally into Mexico on Sunday. They were about 200 miles south of the first caravan.

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Two other caravans recently departed from El Salvador. One was reportedly provided a map from government officials there that lists hundreds of stops from Honduras to the southern border of the United States.

The fourth caravan departed from San Salvador on Oct. 31 and consisted of approximately 2,000 people.

Because of the increasing number of caravans, the estimated numbers of migrants traveling toward the United States has fluctuated wildly among different outlets.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

From NTD.tv