The passage of migrants through the municipality of Huixtla, Chiapas, located on Mexico’s southern border with Guatemala “is hell. If they don’t extort you, they rob you, and if you go inside you have to be careful with the gangs that are raping women,” he tells 14ymedio Cuban Odlanier Sánchez, who awaits the resolution on his refugee request from the Mexican Commission for Refugee Aid (Comar).
“Every day they are arresting people,” says Sánchez. This Thursday migration agents arrested a group of six Cubans, including a minor, who was transferred in a trailer. They located them at the checkpoint of the National Migration Institute (INM) of Huixtla after they passed the cargo unit through X-ray equipment. In this place, on January 20, they “secured” to five other Cubans that they were “hidden in the bedroom of the driver of another truck”.
Obtaining papers through legal means is another nightmare. “You still haven’t arrived at the Tapachula Migration offices and they come to you to offer you shelter for $40, paperwork to obtain humanitarian visas for $80, transfers,” he says of the difficulties that Sánchez, a native of Cienfuegos, has faced. Chiapas in October 2021. “And at Immigration you are in the queue for the procedure and you see how the agents call others.”
Huixtla “is hell. If they don’t extort money, they rob you, and if you go inside you have to be careful with the gangs that are raping women”
The coordinator of the Center for Human Dignification, Luis García Villagrán, assures that an average of 300 undocumented people pass through Tapachula daily, due to the lack of surveillance on the borders of Mexico and Guatemala.
Sánchez says that before the arrival of migrants, many Cubans advance to Huixtla, but having no papers, some seek refuge for several days in the parish of San Francisco, where the parish priest Heyman Vázquez Medina offers them a space to sleep, eat and bathe. . “They are there for a few days and they look for ways to avoid “the military and migration” and advance to Oaxaca or Tabasco.
The religious, consulted by this newspaper, questioned the lack of attention of the authorities to the insecurity faced by irregular migrants during their passage through the vicinity of Huixtla and condemned the increase in elements of the National Guard and military in the Center Comprehensive Attention to Border Transit of the municipality.
Last Sunday, the parish priest helped a group of foreigners who entered the area of La Arrocera to try to avoid the checkpoints of immigration agents but were assaulted. “The men were stripped of their belongings and threatened with high-caliber weapons while some of the women were raped,” he denounced.
Four years ago, the home for migrants Hogar de la Misericordia, located in the municipality of Arriaga, warned about the insecure areas in Huixtla, including La Arrocera, Montecristo, Los Cocos and Saltillito.
Four years ago, the home for migrants Hogar de la Misericordia, located in the municipality of Arriaga, warned about the insecure areas in Huixtla, among them were La Arrocera, Montecristo, Los Cocos and Saltillito. “Let’s take action on the matter. We denounced and the prosecution opened an investigation, but it did not give more details. That investigation turned out to be a hesitated“.
Miguel, a Venezuelan who left the parish a day ago, says that the truckers are charging $300 for “hiding people”, some are passing by, “that’s why those who can pay take risks.” Coyotes charge between $1,200 and $2,000 per transfer.
This Thursday, the governor of Campeche, Layda Sansores, reported that they were “secured for humanitarian purposes 35 Cuban migrants” on Wednesday and handed over to the INM. He indicated that the group came from Tabasco and were destined for Cancun. A military source told 14ymedio that the truck was intercepted on federal highway 186 Escárcega-Chetumal, at kilometer 162, junction ejido 20 de Noviembre, Xpujil.
“The people did not want to hand over their documents and asked to be taken to immigration facilities to clarify their situation. There are no detainees because they did not commit any crime. Migration will be in charge of deciding their situation,” in addition, the military specified that the truck came from Tabasco, but the insured persons only mentioned that they were going to Cancun.
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