VILLA COMALTITLAN, Mexico: Hundreds of Venezuelans are in a migrant caravan that left Mexico’s southern border with Guatemala this week, according to organizers, just as Mexico is imposing strict restrictions on their access to the country.
Reuters spoke to a dozen Venezuelans who said they fled poverty and hardship in their homeland on Thursday in a caravan of about 3,000 people from the town of Tapachula, where elections are due later this week.
Luis García, one of the caravan’s organizers, said Venezuela made up between 20% and 30% of the group. Several related tragic episodes on his travels from South America, particularly in the Darien region of Panama.
“I don’t want to stay in Mexico, we want to go to the United States, we want them to let us pass,” said Desi, a 63-year-old Venezuelan from the city of Maracaibo who joined the caravan. He has six relatives including two children.
“No one leaves their country because they want to, but there are days when you eat once, not even others, there is no medicine, nothing, we are dying.”
The government’s National Institute for Migration, which has tried to break up the caravan, could not say how many Venezuelans were in the group, including Central Americans.
The number of Venezuelans crossing Mexico is set to rise in 2021, and Reuters reported last week that the government is considering setting stricter entry requirements to stem the flow.
The caravan, the second largest to leave Tapachula within a month, moved slowly and reached the village of Vila Comaltitlán in the state of Chiapas on Saturday.
Another 34-year-old Venezuelan woman from Caracas, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal, told Reuters by telephone that she was beaten and raped by two hooded men in Darien, but “through the power of God”. resolved to continue.
“They put a gun in my mouth,” she said. “I couldn’t refuse because there were dead women who protested.”
Reuters could not independently verify her story, but she shared a document showing she had filed a sexual assault complaint with doctors. He also planned to reach the United States so that he could send money back to his child and mother in Venezuela.
Disclaimer: This post has been self-published from the agency feed without modification and has not been reviewed by an editor
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