‘It breaks my heart, but I have to keep going’: The Honduran women forced to leave home

Almost 5,000 members of the caravan arrived at Mexico City’s “Palillo” stadium last week

MEXICO CITY – After 23 days of harsh travel through pouring rain and tropical heat Suyapa takes a much-needed break at a sprawling shelter for members of the Central American migrant and refugee caravan in a sports complex in Mexico’s capital.

“It’s been really heavy going, especially for them,” she says, pointing to her two youngest sons, aged 7 and 10. “One of them got sick but thank God he’s better now. We’ve walked a lot. They get exhausted, they’ve lost the skin on their feet and had to walk barefoot at times.”

Like many of the thousands of people traveling in a series of caravans from Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua, Suyapa left home out of necessity rather than choice.

Suyapa fled Honduras with her two youngest children after gang members threatened her and took her eldest son

While President Trump has called the caravan members “criminals” and deployed over 5,000 soldiers to prevent them from crossing the United States-Mexico border, a great many of them are women and children simply searching for a safe place to rebuild their lives.

According to Mexico City authorities, children accounted for 1,726 of the 4,841 people registered at the shelter as of Nov. 8, including 310 infants under 5 years old. About 30 percent of those registered were women.

1,726 children were registered at the shelter last week, including 310 infants under five years old

Suyapa fled the Honduran city of San Pedro Sula after members of violent criminal networks known as maras extorted her modest food business, demanding all her weekly earnings, and then forced her eldest son to join them.

“These aren’t idle threats, they follow through with them.”

The gang gave her three days to leave and never come back…

Click here to read this feature in full at the Washington Post’s The Lily