Mexican immigration authorities detained 347 people from Cuba, Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua on Monday night, who were abandoned by a network of coyotes in a warehouse located in the town of Amozoc, in the state of Puebla. In an attempt to escape arrest, one person fell into a ravine and died.
“There were many young people, entire families, pregnant women,” a young Guatemalan woman told a TV Azteca reporter about to be taken by van to a ranch at the National Migration Institute. “Several Cubans came on a bus and some children, we all had a password, a number,” added the woman, whose legal status, like that of her companions, will be defined in the coming days by the Mexican authorities.
The inhabitants of San Mateo Mendizabal, a town of artisans, reported this Sunday the entry and exit of buses to the warehouse located on Calle 9 Poniente. Immediately, several police officers went to the scene to carry out an inspection, as reported to 14ymedio a source from the Amozoc municipal police force.
Seeing the patrol approaching the site, several migrants ran out and others jumped over a wall. “They tried to hide in the undergrowth, but unfortunately one had an accident and was found dead at the bottom of a ravine, three others had dislocations and several scrapes,” the police source revealed to this newspaper.
“Several Cubans came on a bus and some children, we all had a code, a number,” added the woman, whose legal status, like that of her companions, will be defined in the coming days.
The migrants had to, as ordered by the smugglers, wait in this place until there was free passage to the United States. “They paid between 1,500 and 2,000 Mexican pesos (from 75 to 100 dollars) and left them in a place where there was no water for the bathroom,” said the agent. The Attorney General of the State of Puebla intervened in the case and is verifying the name of the owner of the warehouse.
The detainees were transferred to the Puebla immigration station, an establishment that is overwhelmed by the number of detainees. The authorities detained 688 migrants a week ago and, this Sunday, eight cubans who were in a house in the town of Acajete, along with 15 others from Bangladesh.
The state of Puebla is considered by traffickers as a bridge for migrants to cross, since from this point they can define the route to reach the US through Coahuila, Nuevo León or Tamaulipas.
Cuba is experiencing an unprecedented migratory exodus, with figures that exceed, according to the Center for Democracy and Development in the Americas, the Mariel crisis of 1980 and the Balseros of 1994. In the last ten months, US authorities have intercepted to almost 178,000 Cubans.
Rafters have also arrived in Mexico. Last Saturday, the Secretary of the Navy reported the rescue of six Cubans who were located 267 nautical miles from Puerto Progreso, Yucatan. After receiving medical care and food, they were handed over to Immigration for deportation.
The increasing difficulty of illegal transit to the United States through Mexico has forced Cubans to try to reach the border using different, often dangerous, means of transportation. The Cuban Yaritza Rodriguez and Tamara died in a traffic accident on Friday August 12 in Puebla. A week after the incident, their bodies are still in the amphitheater located in the municipality of Ciudad Serdán, without the Cuban and Mexican authorities having agreed on a date for their repatriation.
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