Mexican-USA Border/2: the long trip

Christopher Jimènez, member of the Focolare Movement community in Mexico, tells about the migrants’ long exodus from Honduras, while remaining weeks at the foot of the wall bordering the United States.

“On 12th October, we received several calls through the social network—affirm Christopher Jimènez, who collaborates with the association Promozione Intergrare della Persona (PIP) — making it viral in a short time. More than thousands of Hondurans left San Pedro Sula”, a city, which until 2014, has been considered for years among the most violent on the planet. From that time on, the whole world has been witnessing what has been defined by many as a biblical exodus. “A week after the caravan crossed the border of Mexico, numerous civil society organizations and government agencies have already set out to provide humanitarian aid, first at Chiapas, then at Oaxaca and Veracruz.”

At that point, it was no longer a question of a single contingent of migrants, but of different groups that proceeded in waves, on foot or by some lucky means, crossing the country for thousands of kilometres. “At the end of October – continued Christopher – when their arrival in Mexico City was imminent, an interruption of the drinking water was scheduled for the over four million inhabitants of the capital, due to a serious water problem. Yet, many civil and religious organizations, despite the hardships and intense cold, have responded to the invitation of the local Human Rights Commission, setting up a humanitarian camp to the westside of the city. The Focolare also joined. About thirty people, including doctors, nurses, students, housewives, went to the relief and meal-clothing distribution points. Also, another group organized a collection of basic necessities and a civil association, inspired by the Focolare spirit, offered technical and logistic collaborations.”

On the morning of 5th November, about five thousand migrants arrived in the capital. Almost ten thousand people received hospitality, food, blankets, and clothing in the following days. “Despite the solidarity of many, their passage was not free from friction and violence. Some incidents have been on the verge of causing serious episodes of xenophobia. Now the wave of migrants is waiting impatiently under the impassable wall that separates the Mexican city of Tijuana from the United States. We are expecting days of great uncertainty. But in their passage, even amid the pitfalls of a very complex path, they have indicated, the direction by which their dream moves, to the heart of the Mexican people.”

Chiara Favotti