CORDOBA, Mexico • Thousands of bone-tired Central Americans set their sights on Mexico City on Sunday after undertaking a grueling journey through a part of Mexico that has been particularly treacherous for migrants seeking to get to the United States.

An estimated 4,000 migrants are in the Gulf state of Veracruz, where hundreds of migrants have disappeared in recent years, falling prey to kidnappers looking for ransom payments. The day’s 124-mile trek was one of the longest yet, as the exhausted migrants tried to make progress walking and hitching rides toward the U.S. border still hundreds of miles away.

The migrants now aim to regroup in the Mexican capital, seeking medical care and rest while they await stragglers. The caravan has found strength in numbers as it meanders north, with townspeople pouring out to offer food, water, fresh clothes and replacement footwear.

On Sunday, the bulk of the caravan streamed into the colonial city of Cordoba, in Veracruz’s sugar belt, where they were greeted with Caribbean music and dance. Meanwhile, bleary eyed migrants who had charged ahead to Mexico City expressed gratitude for the support of their fellow travelers, saying they would not have had the strength or courage to get so far on their own.

A few arrived at a large outdoor stadium in the capital, where they lounged on bleachers and watched Mexicans play soccer. City employees piled hot food onto Styrofoam plates for the migrants, some of whom had hopped freight trucks to speed their arrival to the capital. Others rested inside a church in the city of Puebla.

It is unclear what part of the U.S. border the caravan will aim for eventually, or how many may splinter off on their own. Most of the migrants said they remain convinced that traveling as a large mass is their best hope for reaching the U.S. The migrants generally say they are fleeing rampant poverty, gang violence and political instability primarily in the Central American countries of Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua.

“We think that it is better to continue together with the caravan. We are going to stay with it and respect the organizers,” said Luis Euseda, a 32-year-old from Tegucigalpa, Honduras, traveling with his wife, Jessica Fugon. “Others went ahead, maybe they have no goal, but we do have a goal and it is to arrive.”

Central American migrants pack into the back of a trailer truck as they begin their morning trek as part of a caravan hoping to reach the U.S. border in Isla, Veracruz state, Mexico, on Sunday. Migrants resumed their push toward the U.S. on Sunday.

the associated press