Mexico Witnesses Sharp Increase In Migrants From Venezuela, Guatemala, Honduras

Mexico has witnessed a sharp increase in migrants from several South American countries, including Venezuela, Guatemala, and Honduras, the country's top diplomat revealed Tuesday.

Alicia Barcena, the secretary of foreign affairs, said in the last month alone, 60,000 Venezuelan migrants, 35,000 Guatemalan migrants, and 27,000 Honduran migrants reached Mexico, Reuters reported.

The information has been shared ahead of Sunday's migration summit, which will be held in the southern Mexican town of Palenque, where Mexican regional leaders will talk about the rising migration issue.

Colombian and Venezuelan presidents -- Gustavo Petro and Nicolás Maduro -- are expected to attend the summit, which will be hosted by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

The surge in migrants was witnessed after the U.S. authorities announced earlier this year that there were more legal ways to reach the country.

So far, 1.13 million migrants have reached Mexico's southern border with Guatemala while 1.75 million migrants have arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border, as per Barcena.

She also noted there were about 63,000 migrant children who arrived in Mexico in the last two months, adding that 7% of them were all alone. Out of these migrant children, nearly three-quarters are either 11-year-olds or younger than that.

Aside from these three countries, Cuban migrants are also crossing the border to reach the U.S. to improve their economic conditions, blaming the latter country for Cuba's current condition.

"The economic blockade, reinforced in recent years, causes extraordinary limitations to the Cuban economy and the population's standard of living, which stimulates the migration," Cuba said earlier this month.

Mexico's National Migration Institute revealed last week that from January to September, the country had deported over 788,000 migrants to their respective countries.

The deportation came after Mexico and the U.S. signed an agreement last month to deport migrants present at the border cities, back to their home countries.

As per the agreement, Mexico will negotiate with Venezuela, Brazil, Nicaragua, Colombia, and Cuba governments to make sure that deportation was successful.