NGO brings food to migrant caravan marching in poor conditions through Mexico

Civil and human rights groups on Friday delivered food to a caravan of nearly 3,000 migrants advancing in precarious conditions along Mexico’s southern border.

The migrant caravan, which is nearly 50 miles from Tapachula, is carrying nearly 400 children who need humanitarian aid such as water and food, according to the organizations.

Lorenza Obdulia, director of the shelter ‘Todo por ellos’, in coordination with the Center for Human Dignity CDH, brought food for the women and children who are trying to cross Mexican territory and reach the United States.

Luis Rey García Villagrán, director of the Center for Human Dignity, said that in the group of people there are many children and women who have to walk more than 9 miles a day and are exposed to dangerous situations.

“We brought just one loaf of bread, some rolls, some good-hearted people helped us bring some bread, especially for the children. There are more than 400 children, it has already been confirmed. Our comrades are telling us that they are going to the front very hungry with a lot of baggage,” said García.

Junior Pacheco, a migrant from Guatemala, said that there are around 5,790 undocumented immigrants moving forward in this caravan under precarious conditions, which is why they need a lot of food.

The group, he said, will leave around 2:00 a.m. this Saturday for Mapastepec.

“Thanks to the Mexican people who listen to the requests we make, for example, we have asked the authorities to support us. Here is the friend who brought bread for everyone, food for the children,” Pacheco celebrated.

Maria Fernanda Davila, a migrant from Venezuela, left everything behind in her country and the only thing she took was her son, she said, in search of a better quality of life and economic stability.

“What we are asking for is help with liquids and food (…) because here there is no set time to start working, so we must continue to move forward, there are quite a few (minors) I can’t tell you a number,” he said.

Richard, a Honduran migrant, emphasized that food delivery is a great help because many do not have money to buy anything, and because it is a long walk to get to Mexico City.

“Many of us have nowhere to grab onto and nowhere to get money, because it’s a very long walk,” he said.

The caravan is one of the most recent, organized by migrants four months before the presidential elections in the United States, where irregular migration, although decreasing in number of people, has not stopped as a drama in the region.

According to Customs and Border Protection (CBP), some 324,000 citizens from Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador arrived at the southern border of the United States in 2023.

Migration in Mexico has grown significantly since 2018, when caravans with thousands of migrants, mostly Central Americans, began entering with the goal of reaching the United States.

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