Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Tenosique (Agenzia Fides) – The "caravan of mothers" of Central America arrived in the Mexican territory, and on the very same day, according to news agencies, there was the first meeting of a Honduran with his parents, after nine years of separation and silence. The caravan has been held every year since 2006, and collects the mothers of Central American countries who go in search of the emigrated children in Mexico to reach the United States, and have not been heard of since, hoping to find them. At the same time the mothers urge the authorities to stop the attacks against undocumented immigrants that take place in Mexico.
This year there are about 45 mothers from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua, who arrive in Mexico from Guatemala across the border of El Ceibo (see Fides 13/10/2012). Crossing the Mexican state of Tabasco (southeast), on Monday, 15 October they reached the town of Tenosique. According to the testimony of the representative of the "Movimiento de Migrantes Mesoamerican" (MMM), Martha Sanchez, the caravan was welcomed by a group of activists with "an embrace of hope and sorrow" for illegal immigrants who are victims of violence when they cross Mexico. The mothers then participated in a Mass celebrated by the priest Fray Tomas, head of the refuge for immigrants "LA 72", then they started their journey again that will last 19 days and pass through 23 cities in 14 Mexican states, and ends on November 3 in Ciudad Hidalgo in Chiapas. The note sent to Fides points out that the caravan also includes a stop in hospitals, morgues and in public places.
Ruben Figueroa, coordinator of the caravan, after a lot of research last year was able to trace the families of four people identified as participants in the last carovan. "The result recognizes the enormous effort made by these poor women, who did not hesitate to leave their villages in search of their children," said Martha Sanchez. (CE) (Agenzia Fides 17/10/2012)
