Migrant caravan sets out in southern Mexico

Several thousand migrants set out in the rain early Monday in southern Mexico, tired of waiting for their status to be normalized in a region with little work and still far from their ultimate goal of reaching the US

The Summit of the America's in Los Angeles will coincide with their plight. Most of the migrants were from Central America, Venezuela and Cuba.

The largest migrant caravan to attempt to leave southern Mexico this year has been stopped. Mexican authorities eventually broke up the others through force and offered to resolve their cases quicker.

Children were protected from the rain with sheets of plastic or blankets on their backs.

The lives of migrants and asylum seekers have been made miserable by Mexico's strategy of containing them in the south. There are few opportunities for work in Mexico's south because many carry large debts.

Mexico's asylum agency has been overwhelmed by the surge in applications. One of the few ways for migrants to get asylum in Mexico is through applying for it in the US.

President Lpez Obrador of Mexico decided not to attend the Summit of the Americas because the Biden administration did not invite Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua.

Luis Garca Villagrn, an activist accompanying the migrants in Tapachula, said they wanted to send a message to the region's leaders that the migrant women and children are not bargaining chips.

Ruben Medina, a migrant from Venezuela, said that he and his family found themselves in Mexico because of Nicols Maduro.

Medina said it was better to start walking in the march because they had been waiting two months for the visa.

Joselyn Ponce said that they didn't have the money to wait and were given an appointment for August 10. If they catch us they will lock us up.

There were migrant caravans in the year. Smaller annual caravans moved through Mexico to highlight the plight of migrants, but without the stated goal of crossing into the U.S.

Several thousand migrants began walking together, betting that the government wouldn't try to stop them. The caravans worked at first, but the governments of Mexico and Guatemalan have been more aggressive in dissolving them.

The October 2021 caravan grew to about 4,000 people. The one that was broken up in January of that year was thought to be even bigger.

The caravans have received media attention, but they represent a small portion of the migration that goes to the U.S. border each day.