Mariana Morales / Reform Agency
Sunday, April 23, 2023 | 19:36
Tapachula, Chiapas.- The Via Crucis Migrant managed to compact, walk 4 hours and pass a checkpoint of the National Institute of Migration (INM) and the National Guard (GN).
And although the crowd dispersed along the asphalt, a handful of foreigners rested in the park of the Álvaro Obregón ejido, in this town, the rest took over the nearby streets.
This Monday they will continue the trip, at 5:00 in the morning.
The nearly 3,000 Hondurans, Salvadorans, Guatemalans, Venezuelans, Costa Ricans, Colombians, and some Asians left Tapachula Bicentennial Park at 7:00 am.
At the immigration checkpoint, located in the Viva México locality, no immigration agent was seen. “Come on, come on!” Some foreigners shouted as they passed by, under the relentless sunbeams.
Perla Contreras, 29, originally from Honduras, said that she had been sleeping in the Tapachula park for more than 15 days with her 8-year-old son, who was carrying two backpacks, one in front and one on his back.
“We are going to go as far as God, and the body says,” he commented.
“The situation is getting worse in Venezuela because of the political issue and it can no longer be studied,” said Santiago Volcoba, 17, behind him his cousin, Sebastián, 11, who was carrying a puppy named Danna.
“It’s the blessing, I brought it from the Darien Jungle, where my mother died after crossing,” said the minor.
The first stop was in the town, Viva Mexico, where the migrants carrying pesos bought grilled chicken, whole pineapples and water at a store.
Irineo Mujica, an activist, said that this Way of the Cross was also to protest the death of 40 migrants at the Juárez station.
Among the young people was the Honduran Dana, who said she was traveling with other teenagers. No one hitchhiked, it was one of the rules of the caravan so as not to lose weight.
Rest
Luz and her disabled son, both of Guatemalan nationality, took a bus, “the situation is bad economically and I need money to operate on my Child,” she said as she got off the bus, noting that the bulk of the contingent had been left behind.
At 11:00 a.m. in the Álvaro Obregón ejido, the migrants dispersed in the park. There a group of transgender girls complained of hurting their feet.
“In Tapachula we slept in the park, but one night a group of men came and sexually attacked me, there was no respect in that city, that’s why we came on this Via Crucis,” said Dana Sofía.
