There is no official figure, but “this week, on average, almost 1,300 people per day crossed the Rio Grande from the Mexican city of Piedras Negras (Coahuila) to Eagle Pass (USA),” confirms Francisco Manrique, a member of Grupo Beta 14ymedio Migrant Protection .
“The Cubans arrive at the bank of the river in groups of up to 60 people with Nicaraguans and some Venezuelans,” says the rescuer. “If we talk about Acuña and Piedras Negras, the passage of the Antilles through the channel exceeds 300.”
Some of these transitions were captured by Univisión journalist Ricardo Arambarri. He confirmed the city police’s pursuit of a group of at least 17 Cubans who were running towards the river. “It’s as if the floodgates were being opened so they could reach the water.” Some fall and manage to get up to reach their goal, others are caught.
“The community and liaison cops go after those who don’t pay,” says Joel Santos, a resident of Guerrero Street, which is less than 10 minutes from the so-called Black Railroad Bridge in Piedras Negras. “These people go through there. When the patrols see them, they stop them and ask for money so they can reach the shore.”
Santos assures that Haitians, Salvadorans and Guatemalans are charged pesos, “about 100 or 200,” but Cubans “charge $100.” They are distinguished by their clothing, assures the local, “the brand of tennis shoes, the clothes” and some are blonde or dark-haired with colored eyes.
This extortion had already been proven by Ramón Tejera when the police in Ciudad Acuña stopped the bus he was traveling in with several migrants, all with transit passes. On their way to the US border, Cubans pay fees to the police at checkpoints, and those who don’t do so are arrested even if they have residency permits. Precisely because he had not paid a bribe to the immigration authorities, Tejera was brought back to the island along with his wife and daughter.
Santos confirms that Haitians, Salvadorans and Guatemalans are charged pesos, “about 100 or 200,” but Cubans “charge $100.”
The user, identified as José López, posted a video on Facebook on Wednesday in which Coahuila Special Police agents are observed extorting money from Central American migrants. Three people were arrested in light of the evidence. The Secretary of State for Public Security, Sonia Villarreal Pérez, reported this Thursday on the opening of an investigation into “collecting fees from foreigners at a checkpoint”.
While the possibility of parole for Cubans, announced since March, increased the flow of migrants via Ciudad Acuña to Del Río (USA), the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) made public that the island does not accept deportations by the Biden government. “It’s going to be a bigger problem for Coahuila,” admits Manrique, Grupo Beta’s rescuer. “That can overtake us, we can already see that.”
There’s no time to challenge the Rio Grande. Local media conduct night tours during which they videotaped the passage of Cubans under the Black Railroad Bridge. ImpactoVisión Noticias shared the moment when a family, including four adults and two minors, manages to arrive in Texas.
Among the numbers that the Bravo River throws up is the death certificate. As of this Thursday, the civil defense reported 47 dead in their attempt to reach the United States. This Wednesday morning, the discovery of a body near the Morelos neighborhood was reported. Two others, one from the Dominican Republic, were confirmed by Eagle Pass authorities, and in the afternoon neighbors reported a body floating meters from the border bridge.
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