Migrants pay respects to dead colleague as they head to US

Still more than 1600km from their goal of reaching the United States, a caravan of Central American migrants briefly halted its arduous journey yesterday to mourn a fellow traveller killed in a road accident, and to rest weary, blistered feet and try to heal illnesses and injuries suffered on the road.

Thousands awakened as the sun rose over a makeshift encampment in a rainsoaked square in the southern Mexican town of Huixtla, a chorus of coughs rattling from the shapeless forms wrapped in blankets and bits of plastic sheeting. Sunburned from the daytime heat and chilled by the overnight cold, many appeared to be developing respiratory problems.

Edwin Enrique Jimenez Flores, 48, of Tela, Honduras, had one of those persistent coughs, but still vowed to reach the US to seek work.

“My feet are good,” he said.

A mobile medical clinic truck pulled into the square to offer the migrants treatment. Municipal worker Daniel Lopez said the town was offering food and water as well as basic painkillers and rehydration liquids, and some children were running high temperatures.

Overnight, candles arranged in the shape of a cross were lit in a simple memorial to the dead Honduran man who fell from the back of an overcrowded truck on Tuesday as it travelled on a highway.

“Today we won’t move. Today is a day of mourning,” said Irineo Mujica, whose Pueblo Sin Fronteras group has been aiding migrants.

Such caravans have taken place regularly over the years, generally without great fanfare, but US President Donald Trump has seized on the phenomenon ahead of November 7 midterm elections.

The caravan, estimated at more than 7000 people, has advanced about 75km since crossing the border from Guatemala and still faces more than 1600km to the closest US border crossing at McAllen, Texas — and more than twice that to reach the distant Tijuana-San Diego crossing. Many in the caravan have low odds of qualifying for asylum even if they do make it, as the US does not consider things like fleeing from poverty or gang violence as a qualifying factor.

A smaller caravan earlier this year headed for the California crossing, dissipating as it advanced, and only about 200 of the 1200 in that group reached the border.

Nearly 1700 from the current caravan have dropped out and applied for asylum in Mexico, according to Mexican authorities, and another 500 have decided to return home to Honduras. The numbers could thin out more as people decide to take their chances in Mexico or strike out on their own.

In Huixtla, the morning routine began with lines of people brushing their teeth