Heading north
Communities offer shelter, medical treatment, donations to thousands
Central American migrants traveling with a caravan to the U.S. make their way to Pijijiapan, Mexico, on Thursday.
Mapastepec, Mexico — As long lines of migrants shuffled past his cheese shop Thursday on the far-distant journey north, Cesar Cabuqui was ready, handing out scores of homemade bean and cheese sandwiches and bags of water.
He was far from the only one moved to help the masses of women, men and children as they made their way on foot between the far southern Mexican towns of Mapastepec and Pijijiapan — a 30-mile trek.
“They are human beings,” Cabuqui said. “You have to do something to help them.”
Southern Mexico’s Chiapas state is home to some of the country’s most impoverished communities. Yet towns suddenly faced with an influx of thousands of people bedding down in overflowing plazas and parks have organized to offer them shelter, medical treatment and donations as best they can.
When an estimated 4,000 to 5,000 migrants walked into Mapastepec on Wednesday, the municipality of 45,000 residents was ready. They had been following the caravan’s progress for days.
The city government erected tents around the main square offering everything from medical attention to donated clothing and baby formula. Local churches offered free showers and set up food distribution points.
Some 110 migrants slept overnight at the Casa de Cultura, where a woman named Concepcion Ponce Aguilar works, and 620 more used its restrooms.
“It is satisfying to have helped them,” Aguilar said. “It leaves a good taste in one’s mouth.”
Grateful for the hospitality, many of the migrants have tried to be respectful visitors.
Jose Reyneri Castellanos, from El Progreso, Honduras, hung back behind the rest of the caravan with his wife and two young sons to help sweep and tidy up — just as they’ve done at each stop, figuring it well help ensure a continued warm reception as they head north.
“I think it is important to leave the community and the city clean,” Castellanos said.
As the migrants departed before dawn Thursday, the garbage left behind was neatly gathered around full bins or littered the ground in places where no receptacles were available. As the sky brightened, a brigade of volunteers together with city workers and migrants swept the trash into mounds and bags that were collected by latex-gloved workers.
Alvaro Ruiz Dominguez was among the residents who welcomed migrants onto his property. Ruiz let them use his bathrooms, and a doctor who occupies one of the five storefronts he owns provided free medical care.
As the last of his one-night guests were gathering their things, Ruiz swept the parking lot and said the migrants had behaved well and made an effort to help clean up. He estimated 250 had slept in the lot and in a side yard. By 5 a.m. there was little sign that so many people had camped there.
“I really doubt they are criminals,” Ruiz said, referring to claims by U.S. President Donald Trump that gang members and “Middle Easterners,” were mixed in with the caravan.
“They are human beings. You have to do something to help them.”
CESAR CABUQUI, CHEESE SHOP OWNER ALONG MIGRANTS’ PATH IN MEXICO