TREKING TOWARDS THE HOPE OF A BETTER LIFE
Jude Webber reports from Mexico City
Griselda Martínez, fleeing domestic violence in Honduras with her two children, was terrified. Masked gunmen had boarded the truck she was travelling in through Mexico in the hope of reaching a better life in the US. ‘It was horrible,’ she says, sitting on a rug in the sports stadium in Mexico City that has become a temporary camp for thousands of Central American migrants attempting the same arduous journey. ‘I thought they were going to kill us. We were crying, trembling, praying to God to save us.’
Griselda, 28, had fled Honduras four months earlier and moved near the Mexican border, where she hooked up with the first Honduran migrant caravan more than two weeks ago. Thousands of Hondurans streamed into Mexico on foot, many in flip-flops, carrying babies and pitifully few possessions. Ill and exhausted, some have since dropped out, but at least two smaller caravans have followed in their wake, with migrants from El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua joining a human tide so desperate to leave behind gang extortion, poverty, unemployment and violence that they are prepared to risk their lives on the journey whose success is far from guaranteed.
President Trump made stopping illegal migrants the heart of his midterm election campaigning and has threatened to slash or axe aid for the three so-called Northern Triangle countries (Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador) while also deploying up to 8,000 troops to repel migrants at the border.
Despite what appear short odds of success, the migrants have pressed on. But Griselda was so exhausted, she paid 150 pesos (£5.50) for a truck ride with a group including 65 children towards the city of Puebla. Travelling en masse was supposed to have afforded safety in numbers. Instead, she was thrust into the kind of danger that all too often stalks migrants trying to cross violence-torn Mexico.
‘ We thought the driver could be trusted but he took us down a dark road on purpose,’ she said of the encounter with the gunmen, who she thinks were cartel members. ‘All the mothers were crying. One of the men told a woman that unless she shut up, they’d kill her.’ Griselda is still not sure how disaster was averted – all she remembers is that they managed to get off at a petrol station, before walking for an hour and a half before arriving at a church, where they were taken in and given blankets, one of the many acts of kindness by strangers.
Griselda’s daughter, eight, and son, three, are among several thousand remarkably resilient migrants at the camp. Some play football and volleyball, queue for aid or a haircut, or simply try to keep boredom at bay. ‘ This trek isn’t something you do because you feel like it,’ says Griselda. ‘Necessity forces us. We want something better for our children.’
And the ordeal is nowhere near over. Most of the migrants at the sports stadium – where Mexico City officials and other organisations have provided health services, meals, toothbrushes, entertainment for the children and even a mobile phone charging station – were unsure exactly where they were headed next. ‘For us, it’s a brilliant adventure,’ said Nelsy Peralta, seven, from San Pedro Sula in northern Honduras, travelling with her father and elder brother.
Mexican authorities say more than 3,000 migrants have requested asylum in Mexico but many more vowed to continue heading north, whatever the obstacles. At least one migrant has given birth en route; another died after falling from a truck he’d hitched a ride on. Orlinda Morales left El Salvador with a baby not even one month old.
Like many, Dinora Rivera, 37, left her twoyear-old daughter at home. ‘ When you see the small children suffering, I say it’s better for her,’ she says. ‘It pains my soul to leave her but I know one day I’ll go back for her.’
DID ANYONE ELSE see this coming? Er, that would be a no then. Last week, British comedian Jack Whitehall and Hollywood actress Kate Beckinsale were spotted on a date at A-list Los Angeles restaurant Craig’s – before heading to the Blind Dragon karaoke lounge, where they were seen kissing in the corner. The source who spotted them on the night said, ‘ They were like a pair of loved-up teenagers.’
A source close to Kate told Grazia that Jack, 30, and Kate, 45, have known each other for some time because they move in the same circle in Los Angeles. While Jack is relatively new to the Hollywood scene, Kate has lived there for about 15 years with her daughter Lily, 19, whose father is actor Michael Sheen.
It was actually Michael, from whom Kate split in 2004 and who remains one of her best friends, who first encouraged Kate and Jack’s romance. ‘Michael worked with Jack on the forthcoming BBC drama Good Omens, and he suggested that they meet up,’ said the source. ‘It’s not massively serious between Kate and Jack at the moment. But the fact that Michael likes Jack makes all the difference to Kate because their relationship with one another is so important.’
The actress is the first woman who Jack has been linked to since his relationship with Humans star Gemma Chan ended in December last year, after six years together. Meanwhile, Kate recently split from 23-year-old comedian Matt Rife.
‘She was sad that things didn’t work out with Matt, but at the moment Kate is trying not to take life too seriously. She’s been through a lot of personal issues and was deeply unhappy in her marriage to director Len Wiseman, whom she divorced in 2016. She feels as though she has a new lease of life now, especially since Lily left home to go to college in New York last year.’
While Jack has just finished filming big budget Disney movie Jungle Cruise with Emily Blunt and The Rock, Kate last week flew to London to begin work on new film Toff Guys with Matthew Mcconaughey. ‘ They are thousands of miles apart for now, but this could turn into something more than a fling,’ added the source. ‘Kate is really keen on Jack and he can’t believe his luck. At the moment Kate is loving her freedom, but Jack is the first person she has really liked since her divorce.’