▲ Haitian and African migrants wait in front of the INM offices in Tapachula, Chiapas.Photo Luis Castillo
Nestor Jimenez
Newspaper La Jornada
Monday, July 25, 2022, p. 4
The wave of violence that has intensified in recent weeks in Haiti could generate an increase in the arrival of migrants to Mexico in the coming months, said the president of the Citizen Committee in Defense of Naturalized and Afro-Mexicans, Wilner Metelus.
Given this projection, he called for creating the conditions to receive them in Mexican territory, but regretted that Haitians have currently faced murders, assaults and abuses that are not investigated by the Mexican authorities.
In Baja California, he said, there are 22 murdered Haitians, as well as reports of disappearances that have not been investigated. Also, every 15 days a Haitian migrant is assaulted when leaving the factories where they work.
Metelus, originally from the Caribbean country, estimated that in Baja California there are just over 15,000 undocumented immigrants of that nationality, many of whom have arrived since 2016 and are in the abandonment
.
The risks are not only present in Mexican territory. Metelus pointed out that yesterday the discovery of 17 deceased Haitians inside a ship passing through the Bahamas was reported. He added that in their attempt to reach the United States, many do so through Mexico and on their way they are suffering a lot
.
It was also questioned where the weapons that are used in that country, immersed in extreme poverty, come from. He argued that they could come from the United States.
He called for a halt to deportations from the United States and from Mexico as a measure against the violence in that country. I believe that in the coming months more brothers will arrive in Mexico because the truth is that there is no life there
.
On Saturday, hundreds of children and adults had to take refuge in a high school in the Haitian capital to flee shootings in a neighborhood, where the fight between gangs has left dozens dead and houses destroyed in recent weeks, news agencies reported. Metelus assured that they have confirmed cases of hundreds of murders.
Last week, the head of Humanitarian Response to Emergencies of Plan International for Latin America and the Caribbean, Raúl Rodríguez, stressed that at least 4.3 million Haitians suffer from some type of food insecurity, a situation that leaves minors exposed to work children in order to bring food to their homes.
