Still bleary-eyed after a night camped out in a rain-soaked town square, Miriam Carranza combed the knots out of her daughter’s hair and listed the many challenges of life back in Honduras: the low pay and precarious job security at the maquiladora factory; the soaring inflation; the rampant insecurity.
But the final straw came when a local gang demanded payment of a “war tax” that far exceeded the income of Carranza and her construction worker husband.
“They said they would kill one of my daughters if we didn’t pay,” Carranza said as she struggled with seven-year-old Ashley’s unruly locks.
The family fled their home, and rather than risk making the journey north alone, they threw in their lot with the caravan of migrants currently making its way through southern Mexico.
“Honduras just isn’t a country where you can live in peace,” said Carranza.
More than 7,000 people have now joined the caravan, defying threats from Donald Trump and slowly advancing some 45 miles into Mexico since crossing the border from Guatemala at the weekend.
After 10 days on the road, weary members of the caravan – which includes children and seniors as well as several people in wheelchairs – said they would rest on Tuesday in the town of Huixtla, before continuing their journey north.
