`“The violence to which young people, boys, girls, women and men of all ages are exposed as they pass through Mexico, including kidnappings, extortion or sexual violence, forces them to travel in caravans as a protection mechanism,” denounced Ricardo Santiago, MSF project coordinator in southern Mexico. Santiago asserted that “the caravans are becoming more and more multitudinous,” because if in September they numbered in the hundreds, now the count is in the thousands.`