Migrant caravan rests, regroups in Mexico City
bMEXICO CITY: A caravan of Central American migrants that has drawn frequent Twitter tirades from President Donald Trump ahead of the US midterm elections rested and regrouped Monday at a stadium-turned-shelter in Mexico City before pressing on.
With their sights set on reaching the United States, some 5,000 migrants, mainly from violenceplagued Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, are expected to converge on Mexico City in the coming days and then continue their northward trek, authorities said.
The first 470 arrived Sunday in Mexico City and spent the night at a stadium on the capital's east side, where authorities have set up a large camp to host them and provide food and water.
By Monday evening, some 4,000 people had arrived at the camp. Another 1,000 are expected to arrive by Wednesday, as the fragmented caravan regroups after dispersing across central and eastern Mexico, according to the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH).
Often travelling in families or with young children, the migrants are sleeping in tents, on the ground or on the cement bleachers of the stadium, in frigid nighttime temperatures of around 12 degrees Celsius in the high altitude of Mexico City.
Many were nursing colds or mangled feet after a trek of more than 1,600 kilometres that began on Oct 13 in the city of San Pedro Sula, Honduras.