March to the land of dreams: Thousands of people from 24 countries march through Mexico on Gustave Eiffel’s 100th birthday: Eiffel Tower closed due to strikes

The thousands of people who have banded together in a caravan in southern Mexico to come to the US have been traveling on foot since Christmas Eve.

The media described the march as a caravan. The refugees are more likely to speak of an exodus. The exodus from poverty.

But poverty alone is not the only reason why the approximately 7,000 people undertake the approximately 4,000 kilometer walk through Mexico. And in some cases, they have already fought their way through the world’s most dangerous escape routes, such as through the jungles of Darién Gap, which separates Colombia and Panama.

The people currently on their way to the country of dreams come not only from Mexico, but also from countries such as Venezuela, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Haiti. According to the organizers, people come from 24 countries.

They are fleeing violence, crime and political instability in their home countries, as well as the effects of climate change.

Caravan of despair

The man behind the march, Luis García Villagrán, accuses Mexico’s migration agency of inaction on immigration applications. People arriving in the Mexican city of Tapachula, near the border with Guatemala, to come to the United States will no longer receive transit permits. “That could have been an order that the US gave to the Mexicans, we don’t know,” García said.

Every year, hundreds of people, mainly from South and Central America, cross the border with Mexico to go to the land of dreams. However, for many this will remain a dream. About 10,000 people are apprehended at the southern border every day. An all-time high.

Between 400 and 500 people die every year at the southern border trying to reach the land of the American Dream.

But this does not stop the refugees from protesting. Ten years of the so-called Viacrucis del migrante (Migrant Way of the Cross). The religious protest was launched in 2013 to draw attention to the violence of the border regimes. Some demonstrators wore Biblical robes and carried crosses.

Many people in Latin America are strongly Catholic. Nevertheless, on Christmas Day, so many people marched through Mexico in the blazing sun and spent the night in the streets. “Our Christmas dinner consisted of mortadella, butter and tomatoes, plus a tortilla,” a refugee from Honduras told the AP news agency.

The people left the southern Mexican town of Tapachula, near the southern border with Guatemala. It is the largest protest march of this year. Your first destination: Mexico City. Until then, however, it is still a long, uncertain journey.

In many cases the marches were stopped again after a few days because the refugees encountered obstacles. “There are many checkpoints and they are deporting us,” one activist told EFE.

This is how Mexico and the US are responding

The migration issue is also highly polarizing in the US. US President Joe Biden had actually promised not to expand the border wall on the southern border with Mexico. Ultimately, he approved the construction of the wall by his predecessor Donald Trump. But Biden is far from securing his re-election. On the contrary. Biden is under pressure and is being blamed by Republicans for the 'chaos at the Mexican border'.

Mexican President López Obrador is not averse to helping the US curb migration. In return, he calls for an easing of economic sanctions against Cuba and Venezuela. This would lead to greater prosperity and help combat the cause of flight.