The Catholic Bishops of Honduras have described the human “caravan” that’s crossing Mexico on its way to the US border as a “human tragedy”, reports Agenzia Fides.
In a statement, the bishops expressed their concern over the situation as the caravan, which now reportedly numbers more than 7,000 people, this week sparked a strong response from the US Government with US President Donald Trump saying he would begin cutting foreign aid to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador for failing to stop the caravan.
“It is a shocking reality, caused by the current situation in our country, which forces a multitude to leave what little it has, venturing without any certainty for the migration route to the United States, with the desire to reach the promised land, the ‘American dream’, which allows them to solve their economic problems and improve their living conditions, for them and their families and, in many cases, to ensure the long-awaited physical security”, Fides reported the document as saying.
The Bishops also called upon the Honduran Government to intervene as soon as possible to put and end to the crisis within the Central American nation.
“It is the duty of the Honduran State to provide its citizens with the means to satisfy their basic needs, such as decent, stable and well-paid work, health, education and housing, and when these conditions do not exist, people are forced to live in tragedy and many of them hope to undertake a path that leads to development and improvement, finding themselves in the shameful and painful need to leave their families, their friends, their community, their culture, their environment and their land.
“We were deaf to the cries of their rights and blind to see that reality. The news of this caravan is the massive form of thousands of people, mostly young people, who go with the hope of obtaining sufficient resources to transform Honduras”
The bishops have thanked neighbouring nations for the reception of and aid provided to Hondurans.
