Tapachula, Mexico — Fernando lifts up his shirt to show a sizeable scar on his abdomen, the result of an attack by robbers. Born in the Honduran coastal city of Tela, he was shot 10 times by thieves who wanted to take his bicycle. After barely surviving that episode, he knew he had to leave his homeland.
Fernando, who, like many migrants here at the Mexico-Guatemala border, did not feel comfortable providing his full name, has joined the migrant caravan that is destined for the United States. After traveling for days from Honduras through Guatemala, many of those traveling with the caravan have been stopped in their tracks by Mexican authorities, who have slowed official crossings to a trickle.
Mexican officials at the Ciudad Hidalgo crossing claim they only have the capacity to process 300 people a day, stranding many on the bridge, which has become a de facto refugee camp. It’s a strategy similar to the one deployed by US authorities on the US-Mexico border, where guards stop asylum seekers from even reaching the other side of the border. The aim is to wear out those who seek to enter and force them to turn back.
But for the thousands amassed on the bridge linking Mexico and Guatemala, there is no turning back. Crime and poverty have made life in Honduras virtually impossible. People on this caravan are desperate and feel like there is no other choice.
“We are not migrating, we are fleeing,” Timothy, who has come from the city of El Progreso, Honduras, told Truthout.
Honduras has been racked by political turmoil since 2009, when a US-backed coup ousted the democratically elected government of Manuel Zelaya,…