Justice
When Violence and Poverty Are Worse Than Covid-19
Migrants who have crossed the border into Mexico say they still fear violence and poverty back home more than the Covid-19 pandemic.
At the Belén migrant shelter in the southern Mexican city of Tapachula it’s afternoon recess – one of the two times each day that residents are allowed out of the facility’s front doors. An 18-year-old asylum-seeker from Honduras, who asked to be called John, sits in the sun on a boulder, a face mask slung around his neck.
A few miles south, Mexico’s river border with Guatemala – which John crossed last month after fleeing his infamously violent hometown San Pedro Sula – is now fenced off due to the coronavirus pandemic. Guatemalan soldiers in face masks guard the bridge.