At least four municipal police officers from the Mexican state of Oaxaca were arrested for trying to extort coyotesfrom whom they demanded 150,000 pesos (7,500 dollars) not to report 25 migrants from Cuba, Guatemala and El Salvador who were crowded into a large house in the municipality of Pueblo Nuevo.
A discussion between the officers and the smugglers He alerted the local residents, who realized that the civilians were not from the area. “The claim was for a fee that was not agreed upon,” he told 14ymedio a witness who identified himself as Felipe López. “One of the policemen threatened to take his gun from him if they didn’t pay.”
According to the source, in the morning a patrol stationed itself in front of the house where the migrants were being hidden, which the previous month had been covered with sheets. “There was movement at night, they arrived in a truck, but we had never seen the people they took out,” López said.
“There was movement at night, they arrived in a van, but we had never seen the people they took out,” López said.
“While these guys were arguing outside, we heard that some children started crying inside, so we thought they were kidnappers,” the witness said. “With the support of carriers and neighbors, we surrounded the police and smugglers, until the state security arrived… When were we going to imagine that they were migrants? They had them on the ground, there they put cardboard for them to sleep.”
According to data from the Ministry of Public Security of Oaxaca, an investigation was opened for the alleged crime of extortion to the detained uniformed officers, but it will be the police agency that defines the punishment.
Oaxaca is a point of reference for Cubans. The Government of Mexico has detected in that region several networks of coyotes that charge between 4,500 and 10,000 dollars to migrants to the US In addition, the so-called central region is one of the main routes exploited by traffickers to transport the island’s nationals in vans and cargo trucks.
The detained foreigners, including five children, were handed over to the National Migration Institute of the state of Oaxaca. It will be in the next few days when their immigration status will be defined.
In Ciudad del Carmen, on the Yucatan peninsula, this Thursday the National Guard detained a group of 16 Cubans and Nicaraguans who were transferred to the state of Tabasco in a van. A state security source confirmed to 14ymediothat these people would be expelled to their country of origin.
According to official figures, Mexico has repatriated 1,657 Cubans to the island this year. This Friday, the arrival at the José Martí International Airport in Havana of a group of 28 people was reported.
Meanwhile, from the United States, the Coast Guard repatriated 95 rafters aboard the ship this Thursday. william trumpwith what there are 5,086 returned Cubans since October last year.
These repatriations have not diminished the arrival of rafters to the island. This Friday the Coast Guard announced that a boat with at least 25 Cubans was shipwrecked off the Florida Keys.
Good Samaritan partners and crews responded to the capsizing of a boat and people in the water near Islamorada as a result of an illegal immigrant adventure. “Twenty migrants were taken into custody, four allegedly made it to land, and the search continues for one, reported missing.”
The rescued rafters, the government agency specified, are on board a cutter and will be repatriated to Cuba.
________________________
Collaborate with our work:
The team of 14ymedio is committed to doing serious journalism that reflects the reality of deep Cuba. Thank you for joining us on this long road. We invite you to continue supporting us, but this time becoming a member of our journal. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
