A caravan of thousands of migrants continued its dayslong march through Mexico toward the southern U.S. border Wednesday, hours ahead of a scheduled meeting between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
About 7,500 people from 24 different countries were believed to be part of a massive group making its way north Wednesday through the Mexican state of Chiapas on the border of Guatemala, Luis García Villagrán, an organizer of the migrant caravan and activist, told NBC News. He said a group of women, children and sick people was farther ahead and had reached Mapastepec.
Most of the migrants are from Central America, Cuba, Venezuela and Haiti, he said, but some come from as far as Turkey, Iran, Syria and Cameroon.
Not all of the migrants are seeking to enter the U.S., García Villagrán said. Some are hoping for documents to be able to stay in Mexico and find work and humanitarian relief.
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The migrants hope to get the attention of and assistance from the Mexican government, García Villagrán said. “The conditions in which the companions, the migrant women and children, are walking is truly deplorable,” he said.
Jonás Sosa, a Venezuelan migrant traveling with the caravan, told Telemundo that the migrants need help. Sosa, who said he left Venezuela two months ago, said he lost his left leg in a car accident and supported himself along the journey on crutches and a prosthetic leg.
He said the people traveling with the caravan are “those of us looking for a new dream, those of us that want to work, those of us who want to move forward in life.”
