2023-12-28 08:54:37
The south also wants to live as it deserves; live well, as happens in the north. It happens in the Mediterranean, where thousands of African immigrants who aspire to make their European dream come true cross every year, at the risk of their lives. And it also happens in America, where the destination is to reach the United States. Right now, a caravan of thousands of immigrants advances through southern Mexico to look for a place in the world, a place in the United States.
The caravan is made up of between 7,000 and 10,000 migrants (some sources already speak of 14,000). They are mostly children and women, but there are even entire families. They left Tapachula, in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, on Sunday with the aim of reaching the United States. It is the largest caravan since June 2022, when a group of similar size left that same location.
After traveling thousands of kilometers, they have had to wait weeks and even months in Tapachula to obtain documents that would allow them to continue their trip. Mexico says it does not grant transit visas, but migrants are still waiting to obtain some type of document.
Who are these migrants
They are people of 24 nationalities, mainly from Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua, but also from Cuba, Colombia, Venezuela or the Dominican Republic. They leave their countries to escape poverty, natural disasters, political repression and organized crime.
“There are many mothers who are going to the American dream… we have to come to Mexico to cross to the other side.”
“We are asking for documents to be able to reach the northern border, because there are many mothers who are going to the American dream. In our places sometimes there is not enough economy and employment, so we have to come to Mexico to cross to the other side.” This is what Rosa has told Efe. She is originally from El Salvador, where she was a domestic worker before leaving the country due to lack of employment.
The caravan, in another image in southern Mexico. Europa Press / Hector Ado
What do they want?
The intention of the participants is, of course, to reach the US, but they also demanded dialogue from the Government of Mexico this Wednesday, taking advantage of the visit of a US delegation led by the Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, to address the migratory surge with the president, Andrés. Manuel López Obrador.
Before the meeting, the coordinator of the Center for Human Dignification (CDH), Luis Rey García Villagrán, who accompanies the caravan, expressed that the southern border “is not anyone’s backyard” and that migrants “are not currency.” .
If the people migrate it is because the Government lacks something to satisfy the needs of that people, to migrate to seek a new hope of life.”
“If the people migrate it is because the Government lacks something to satisfy the needs of that people, to migrate to seek a new hope of life. And if you meet with a country, to deny migration to your people, it is better to meet with your government to lend (resources) to the people so that they do not migrate,” says Venezuelan migrant Nery Jesús Menzana.
Where is caravan
After passing through the municipality of Huixtla in Chiapas, the migrants resume their march this Wednesday towards the municipality of Escuintla. The caravan had requested humanitarian visas from the National Migration Institute and the Mexican Commission for Aid to Refugees. Not getting help, several migrants have protested in front of the facilities within the framework of an important security deployment by the National Guard to later set out on their way to the north of the state.
“They are very needy people, stranded in Tapachula for seven or eight months, who are not attended to by the National Migration Institute, and that is the reason why we have decided to walk… I believe it is the largest movement of beings humans of such magnitude walking together,” declared Luis Rey García Villagrán, director of the Center for Human Dignification.
What migrants demand
“Today we are the poorest of the poorest of those who are at the peak of need, those of us who do not have money to pay for visas or polleros,” says García Villagrán. According to him, this caravan is the largest exodus this year and could exceed 15,000 people.
“We are the poorest of the poorest, those who do not have money to pay for visas or polleros.”
“There is a plug and a human knot that is reflected in this group that we lead, we tell the Mexican State that it leaves us no choice but to walk along the road until Immigration and President López Obrador’s finger say yes or no,” he said. Villagran. The caravan carries a banner in which they say they are in an ‘Exodus from poverty’.
In the caravan there are all those who are there, but not all those who are there are there. Mexico affirms that it has confirmed the presence of 680,000 migrants transiting through the country in the first 11 months of 2023. But the US Customs and Border Protection Office assures that from January to November more than 2.2 million migrants have arrived.
How the US seeks to stop migrants
The president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, assured that in the meeting held this Wednesday between Mexican and American officials, led by the Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, to negotiate new agreements that serve to control the increase in migrants trying to reach In the United States, “important agreements” were achieved in the economy, security and migration since “now more than ever a good neighbor policy is essential.”
“We ask President Biden to meet with Secretaries Antony Blinken, Alejandro Mayorkas and the Presidential National Security Advisor, Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, to directly address issues of economic cooperation, security and migration,” López Obrador said in a message on the social network X (formerly Twitter). “Important agreements were reached for the benefit of our people and nations. Now more than ever, a good neighbor policy is essential,” he added.
For his part, Blinken, in another message on the same social network, highlighted that the partnership between the United States and Mexico “is crucial for prosperity and security” in both countries and “across the American continent.” “[Es] good to discuss these issues, and our shared efforts to reduce irregular migration with López Obrador today in Mexico City,” the US official said. “We are committed to partnering with Mexico to address our shared challenges, including managing irregular migration unprecedented in the region, reopening key ports of entry and combating illicit fentanyl and other synthetic drugs,” Blinken said in a second message.
How Mexico acts with migrants
The Mexican authorities are trying to prevent the free movement of migrants by denying them transit permits with the aim of limiting arrivals at the northern border. In December, up to 10,000 immigrants have been arrested daily at the southwestern US border.
In May, Mexico agreed to take in migrants who had been rejected by U.S. authorities for not following rules that provided new legal avenues for asylum and other forms of migration. These are citizens of countries such as Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba.
#thousands #people #seeking #escape #misery