A group of 42 Cubans was detained this Monday in the Mexican state of Campeche and forced to remain “more than 24 hours on a bus without receiving food or assistance” by immigration authorities. Now, they will be deported, according to the complaint sent to 14ymedio by Maryce Ramírez Hidalgo, one of those affected. “We were forced to go downstairs so they could take photos of us, they took our documents and they are threatening everyone if we record and share this.”
Given the arbitrariness to which they were subjected, some of the Cubans took out their cell phones and shared the video with relatives, holding “the police and immigration agents” responsible for what could happen to them. “We want free transit to the United States, we do not intend to stay in Mexico nor do we commit crimes so that they treat us like criminals,” Ramírez insisted.
Municipal agents from Palizada, a town of less than 9,000 inhabitants in Campeche, intercepted two buses from the Tours Acosta company on Monday on suspicion of trafficking in undocumented immigrants. In them they transferred 103 Cubans.
Around 10 p.m., the officers were ordered to stop the buses with license plates 104-RP-4 and 902-RM-5, which were “loaded with foreigners,” he confirmed to 14ymedio a police source. According to the official report, the Cubans were placed at the disposal of the Public Ministry and taken to the headquarters of the Undersecretary of the Attorney General of the Republic.
However, one of the units in which 42 Cubans were taken was parked outside the state prosecutor’s office. “Nobody goes down until Immigration decides what to do with you,” an officer sentenced them. Through their relatives, they contacted the lawyer José Luis Pérez Jiménez, who processed an amparo requesting the immediate release and in order to avoid deportation.
“Again the authorities are violating the human rights of these people. It is a punishment and arbitrariness to deny them food. There is no reason to deport them, this is clearly established in articles 154 and 160 of the Protection Lawfor which I have asked the state delegate Manuel Larios Gutiérrez to be allowed to continue their process in freedom,” the defender told this newspaper, confirming that a group had been transferred to Cancun for deportation.
Yaimet Sánches Selles denounced that in the group is the minor Jimmy Jorge Cespedes Sánches, whose lack of food and sleep caused his “asthmatic condition to worsen.” When requesting medical assistance, the only thing they have let him know is that the Escárcega immigration station, where they should be transferred, is saturated, so they could be taken to another state.
The rest of the identified Cubans are Rosmery Rodríguez Gamboa, Ulises Antonio Valdez Cubilla, Odalis Hurtado Mola, Luis Alberto Labrada López, Jorge Luis Rodríguez Salcerio, René Javier Cagigal Valdés, Alexis Quintana Rodríguez, Yaimet Selles Velázquez, Jorge Luis Sánches Proenza, Lilianne del Campo. Roman, Odalis González Dueñas, Iria Hidalgo Soriano, Jonathan Digno Bereijo González, José Efraín Guzmán Batista and Alejandro Olivera García.
The municipal authorities have also arrested the two bus drivers and an assistant, who are accused of being coyotes. However, so far there are no indications or evidence to confirm this version.
The crossing of Cubans through Campeche has increased in recent months. On August 16, the habaneros Gualberto Brache Torrens and Cristhian Isaac Iglesias de los Reyes Gavilán were detained by members of the National Guard. After being held incommunicado on charges of carrying false documentation, they were released and are currently in the United States.
On August 12, authorities intercepted another 16 Cubans with false voter credentials along with two coyotes. The migrants were transferred to the US in two vans and had paid 5,000 pesos.
The National Migration Institute reported on September 22 of the detention of 99 Cubans at various checkpoints. Those arrested did not have documents certifying their legal stay in the country.
More than 177,000 Cubans have arrived by land in the United States and more than 5,000 by sea since October 2021.
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