Migrants pause to honor dead man, rest
HUIXTLA, MEXICO — Still more than 1,000 miles from their goal of reaching the United States, a caravan of Central American migrants briefly halted their arduous journey Tuesday to mourn a fellow traveler 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 rain-soaked square in the far 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 U.S. to seek work.
“My feet are good,” he said.
A mobile medical clinic truck pulled into the square in the morning 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 Monday as it traveled on a highway.
“Today we won’t move. Today is a day of mourning,” said activist Irineo Mujica of the Pueblo Sin Fronteras group, which is aiding the migrants. He added that they would leave before dawn Wednesday headed for Mapastepec, about 38 miles (60 kilometers) up the coast.
Such caravans have taken place regularly over the years, generally without great fanfare, but U.S. President Donald Trump has seized on the phenomenon this year and made it a rallying call for his Republican base ahead of Nov. 6 midterm elections.