Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador speaks with a migrant activist demanding justice for the 38 dead migrants as he leaves the Colegio de Bachilleres in Ciudad Juárez during his visit, March 31, 2023. Omar Ornelas/El Paso Times Omar Ornelas/El Paso Times/USA TODAY NETWORK Mexico City
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador accused human traffickers this Thursday of organizing migrant caravans as they advanced in the south of the country after setting off last Sunday, the largest of the year.
“Migration is encouraged, there is misinformation, there are also human traffickers who promote it and organize caravans to reach the United States, often without informing people,” the president said in his daily press briefing.
“And we must continue to care for migrants, prevent them from falling into harm’s way and avoid risks,” he added.
His statements came during the advance of the refugee caravan that set out on Christmas Eve from Tapachula on Mexico's southern border, the largest of the year with nearly 10,000 people, and is now in the municipality of Escuintla in the state of Chiapas.
The caravan's advance put pressure on the Mexican government during the visit this Wednesday of a US delegation led by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of National Security Alejandro Mayorkas to address the unprecedented rebound in migration flows in December. .
However, when asked by a journalist, the Mexican president denied that the group of migrants was still so large and pointed out that it had dispersed.
“In the case of this caravan, they are already in the southeast, because you are talking about 8,000, today's report, in my opinion, already puts it at 1,500, which is what they informed me about earlier today,” he explained.
The group is moving forward as there are historic numbers of people seeking to enter the United States at the Mexican border this December, where U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported on Tuesday the arrival of more than 2, 2 million migrants confirmed from January to November.
Regarding his meeting with the US delegation, López Obrador explained that he insisted to officials on the need to invest in development cooperation with Central American countries and to ensure that Mexico's policies are aimed at protecting migrants.
“We talked about drawing attention to the causes that cause migration, about supporting countries where people are forced to leave their cities in search of work, and we learned how our country continues to help,” he said.