With the largest migrant caravan ever headed to the U.S. many have questioned how over 14,000 people assembled in an organized fashion in just a matter of weeks. While fingers have pointed to American open borders groups as well as other countries such as Venezuela, one individual, by the name of Bartolo Fuentes, has taken credit for being the mastermind and catalyst behind the migrants’ movement.
Fuentes, a Honduran national and ex-member of the Honduran Congress, began planning the caravan last month and initially only gathered 200 people. This number quickly soon ballooned after a Honduran cable news channel revealed his plans to the nation. The channel informed viewers that supplies and transportation would be provided at no costs to participants.
In just a couple days, the small caravan numbering a few hundred people grew to a few thousand. This information was widely publicized on social media and the caravan quickly mushroomed in size.
It comes to no surprise that an individual like Fuentes would be the architect behind the caravan. He has a long affiliation with the left-wing Libre Party, which has been seen as having “radical socialist elements” and is the party of former president Manuel Zelaya, who had close ties with Venezuela and Cuba.
Though Fuentes has orchestrated one of the biggest caravans in recent memory, he has already faced consequences. While participating in the caravan last week in Guatemala, Fuentes was detained and deported back to Honduras after he was found to not be complying with Guatemalan immigration rules. (Why the other 10,000 plus were allowed to continue northward is a separate question.)
While it appears that Fuentes will not be able to continue his trip northward to the U.S. border, his actions have sparked three separate caravans numbering 14,000, 2,500, and 230 Central American migrants in just a matter of weeks, with likely more to follow.