Sickness, fear, and harrassment whittle away at caravan numbers
HUIXTLA, Mexico — Little by little, sickness, fear and police harassment are whittling down the migrant caravan making its way to the U.S. border, with many of the 4,000 to 5,000 migrants camped overnight under plastic sheeting in a town in southern Mexico complaining of exhaustion.
The group, many with children and even pushing toddlers in strollers, planned to depart Mapastepec at dawn Thursday with more than 1,000 miles still to go before they reach the U.S. border.
But in recent days a few hundred have accepted government offers to bus them back to their home countries.
Jose David Sarmientos Aguilar, a 16-year-old student from San Pedro Sula, Honduras, was one of at least 80 migrants waiting in the town square of Huixtla, where the rest of the caravan departed Wednesday morning, for four buses that would take them back to Honduras.
Sarmientos Aguilar said it was partly the spontaneous nature of the caravan — many people joined on the spur of the moment — as well as the rumors of migrants dying that did him in.
He joined the march "without thinking about what could happen and the consequences it could bring," he said. He said the death of a migrant who fell off a truck Monday — and vague rumors of two migrants killed in Huixtla — also pushed him to return.
"There have been a lot of tragedies. It's not necessary to go on losing more lives to reach there (the U.S.)," he said. "I am a little sick in the chest. I have a cough. And so instead of risking getter sicker and something happening to me, it's better to go home."
More: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/sickness-fear-harassment-in-mexico-whittle-away-at-caravan/ar-BBORpjx
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