Highlights: Some 4,000 migrants left southern Mexico on Sunday to reach the capital Mexico more than a thousand kilometers further north. They are demanding justice after the deaths of 40 migrants last month and the right to move and emigrate. The head of Chihuahua's National Institute of Migration was arrested in connection with the investigation and charged Saturday with homicide. Hundreds of migrants, including Venezuelans, arrived at the US border, trying to cross the Bravo River at the Mexican city of Matamoros, on makeshift boats.

They march to "challenge the Mexican government." Some 4,000 migrants left southern Mexico on Sunday to reach the capital Mexico more than a thousand kilometers further north. They are demanding...

Mexico: a column of migrants on the march to demand justice

Mexico: A caravan of several hundred migrants left Chiapas for Mexico City, then the US border, April 24, 2023. REUTERS - GABRIELA SANABRIA

Text by: RFI Follow

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They march to "challenge the Mexican government." Some 4,000 migrants left southern Mexico on Sunday to reach the capital Mexico more than a thousand kilometers further north. They are demanding justice after the deaths of 40 migrants last month and the right to move and emigrate.

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The images are on the front page of Mexican television. In temperatures close to 40 degrees, a long procession of men, women and children stretches through the streets. They number about 4000,27 and carry placards reading "On March <>, the state killed". A caravan left Sunday from Tapachula, on the Guatemalan border, and which called itself Viacrucis migrante, migrant Way of the Cross.

The message refers to the tragedy in Ciudad Juarez where last month 40 migrants died in a fire at a detention center on the border with the United States. The Mexican authorities are accused of failing to intervene. The head of Chihuahua's National Institute of Migration was arrested in connection with the investigation and charged Saturday with homicide, but the anger does not seem to be abating. The association Pueblos sin fronteras, organizer of the march, calls for the closure of all detention centers in the country, the demilitarization of the INM, the migration office, and a relaxation of the procedures for regularizing migrants.

@IrineoMujica de @PuebloSF convoca a caminar el #viacrucis del #migrante desde #Tapachula a #CdMx, unos 2mil kilómetros, para denunciar el encarcelamiento y violaciones a los DH de personas en tránsito por #Mexico. La salida ocurrirá este 23/04 pic.twitter.com/DzinWrct3T

— Benjamin Alfaro (@Tapabav) April 14, 2023 ► Read also: After the tragedy of Ciudad Juarez, the Mexican president encourages Washington to take its responsibilities

In this march, migrants from Haiti, Venezuela or Colombia denounce their conditions in Mexico. Many, waiting for refugee status or a humanitarian visa, find themselves stranded in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas. Leaving this state exposes them to arrest or return to their countries of origin. According to NGOs, about 40,000 migrants are stranded in the Mexican city of Tapachula.

Also on Monday, hundreds of migrants, including Venezuelans, arrived at the US border, tried to cross the Bravo River at the Mexican city of Matamoros, on makeshift boats. Among them, entire families with children, loaded with plastic bags with their meagre belongings, on inflatable mattresses. Attempts to cross the North American border, often deadly, are relentless.

Mexico: a column of migrants on the march to demand justice

Mexico: a column of migrants on the march to demand justice

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