Hundreds of Hondurans have headed toward the American border fleeing poverty and violence, Reuters reported on Sunday, days after Washington pushed Latin American presidents for tighter borders.
The number of marchers is reportedly around 1,300 people, including families and women carrying babies. However, the Nicaraguan newspaper El Nuevo Diario says that their number exceeds 2,000.
According to Bartolo Fuentes, the organizer and former MP, the caravan, dubbed "March of the Migrant," departed from the northern Honduran town of San Pedro Sula and plans to cross over into Mexico through neighboring Guatemala.
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Once in Mexico, the migrants plan to seek asylum to remain in the country or request a visa to cross the US border.
In a similar desperate move in April, hundreds of migrants embarked on a journey from Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala to the United States. They didn't make it to the final destination as the infuriated Donald Trump told Mexican authorities to stop them and barred them from entering the US.
This week's venture comes after US Vice President Mike Pence promised US backing to Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador on Thursday in return for their help with curbing migration and gang violence.
Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez lamented that the US had been cutting its funding, and voiced concerns over the reunification of migrant families illegally crossing the American border. Earlier this year, Donald Trump signed an order to bring migrant children together with their parents after Washington's policy of separating illegal border crossers sparked public backlash in the US and put Honduras under "huge pressure," according to Hernandez.
