The caravan of migrants ends with the handover of power to the southern border of Mexico

Tapachula (Mexico), April 3 (EFE) – The second caravan of migrants departing from the Mexican city of Tapachula, near Guatemala last Friday, with the goal of reaching Mexico City, ended this week when it surrendered to the country’s government. National Institute of Migration (INM).

The caravan, dubbed “migrant viacrucis” because of its proximity to Holy Week, lasted three days and barely reached about 16 kilometers to the Alvaro Obregon community, practically at the Tapachula exit, where about 400 migrants agreed this week to end their limited journey. .

The group, which consisted of people from Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Peru, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Cuba, Syria and other nationalities, managed to establish a dialogue with the immigration authorities.

That is, the cars will be sent to the Alvaro Obregon Community Center, where they will stay for three days and be transported to the Huehuetan community, from where they will be transported to Tabasco and Oaxaca. In these areas, authorities say, they will be granted visas for humanitarian reasons to continue their destination or, if necessary, work in Mexico.

Cuban Jorge Sanchez told Efe that he decided to hand over to INM agents so as not to continue walking, not to have problems and to be calm.

“They will take us somewhere to have the documents, without knowing our destination,” he explained.

The migrant and his fellow countrymen say it is “more difficult to travel to Mexico” because they are afraid to continue their journey and are very distrustful, as they take the Siglo XXI immigration station to Tapachula upon arrival in Mexico.

When Salvadoran Walter Bladimir Martinez said he had “distrust” of immigration because he did not know where he would be taken.

As of this week, there were a record 456 people in the caravan, and last Friday, about 90 migrants who were arrested already had documents, according to Luis Ray Garcia Villagran, director of the organization’s Center for Human Dignity in Tapachula.

The activist noted that the INM was able to serve migrants; However, he said he does not agree because of the methodology used by the institute because there is distrust towards foreigners where they will go.

In addition, he said, they will conduct a timely investigation to see if the documents are valid across the country.

The migrants had been trying to talk to the immigration authorities since Friday, but without receiving a response, they were caught with actions such as sewing their lips with a needle and thread and declaring a hunger strike.

This week, INM representative in Chiapas, Paola Lopez Rodas, tried to resolve the issue, but the migrants wanted to sign a long list of names and were instructed to submit the documents, but an official told them that regulation processes would take place. In Tabasco and Oaxaca.

Despite their resistance, the migrants agreed to surrender and got into the INM’s cars without incident, as the foreigners indicated that they did not want violence and the only thing they were looking for was to be transferred to other agencies to get their immigration documents.

This is the second migrant caravan of the year, after the first contingent of about 500 people left last January, but due to government pressure it barely advanced by about 20 kilometers.

In September last year, Mexican authorities thwarted the advance of four caravans of migrants that had just left Tapachula.

Several UN agencies and NGOs have since criticized the use of force in the demolition operations of these caravans.

Another caravan, which had been traveling for more than a month, arrived in Mexico City in mid-December.

The wave of migration

The region is experiencing a record influx of migrants to the United States, whose Customs and Border Protection (CBP) office has identified more than 1.7 million undocumented immigrants across the Mexican border in fiscal year 2021, which ended Sept. 30.

According to the Department of Migration Policy of the Ministry of Interior, Mexico in 2021 deported more than 114,000 foreigners.

In addition, the Mexican Refugee Assistance Commission (Comar) received a record 131,448 refugee applications in 2021. More than 51,000 of these petitioners are Haitian.

John Manuel White