Migrant Caravans Are Challenging an Oppressive Border Regime
Central American migrants taking part in caravans that cross Mexico’s territory are often presented as pawns manipulated by NGOs or smuggling gangs. In fact, they’re making an active choice to challenge a violent border system that extends far beyond US soil.
Members of the Central American migrant caravan wait along the roadside in Donaji, Mexico, as they move to the next town. (Spencer Platt / Getty Images)
Over Christmas, images of thousands of women, men, and children walking behind a banner and a man carrying a white cross appeared on the front pages of media outlets worldwide. They were Venezuelans, Hondurans, Guatemalans, Cubans, Haitians, and others who together formed the “exodus from poverty” (Exodo de la Pobreza), as the banner reads.
Many of them looked tired after walking dozens of miles through southern Mexico. Many carried their children, belongings, and even their pets toward the North.
Mexican authorities disbanded the caravan by offering regularization and transport buses just after New Year’s Eve. About ten days later, the caravaneros reassembled in Oaxaca to make their way northward.
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