The migrant caravan heading to the United States is calling on the government of Mexico and Mexico to provide them with greater employment opportunities.
VILLA COMALTITLAN, MEXICO —
The refugee caravan Those who left the Mexican-Guatemalan border on Christmas Eve continued to walk the streets of Chiapas this Tuesday, calling on the governments of the United States and Mexico, instead of tightening immigration policies, to impose greater sanctions on those leaving their countries to flee poverty Providing employment opportunities or violence.
“Ask for protection, that they give me political protection because I cannot return to Colombia, or that they give me the opportunity to stay in a country where I can legalize myself, work and support my family,” claimed Norbey Díaz Ríos, 46 years old and traveling with his wife and two children.
The group, about 6,000 people, is the largest to form this year and began its walk shortly before a high-level delegation from the United States meet on Wednesday with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to agree on new measures to control the growing flow of migrants through the region.
This Tuesday, the migrants symbolically protested as they passed the main customs office on Mexico's southern border, in the municipality of Huixtla, guarded by a dozen National Guard agents in riot gear.
The foreigners knelt for a moment and said a prayer before continuing without confrontation toward Villa Comaltitlán, 60 kilometers north of their starting point.
A new refugee caravan is traveling from south to north through Mexico
Police, along with the National Guard, continued to monitor their movements. Immigration officials made no attempt to stop them as they passed through the checkpoints.
“We just want to work,” said Honduran Marvin Orellana, also traveling with his wife and daughter, urging politicians to look back at them so they can see what they are going through.
The region is experiencing an unprecedented migration flow that has not been controlled despite attempts by the United States to open new channels for legal emigration while exacerbating the consequences of irregular emigration.
More than half a million migrants, many of them Venezuelans, crossed the Darién jungle on the Colombia-Panama border this year. According to official data, Mexico detected more than 680,000 foreigners in an irregular situation from January to November. In addition, a record number of almost 137,000 people sought refuge in this country.
The situation at the border between Mexico and the United States worsened in December when US authorities tightened it On some days they recorded up to 10,000 illegal border crossingsa completely unusual number that led to temporary closures at some intersections.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken; Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and White House national security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall will meet with the Mexican president on Wednesday to agree on new immigration measures.
“We know that they will not take us into account,” said activist Luis García Villagrán, who accompanies the migrants, which is why he explained that they will continue walking. In his opinion, the immigration issue for both the United States and Mexico is “purely an electoral issue.”
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López Obrador acknowledged that Americans want Mexico to do more to block migrants in the south, on the border with Guatemala, and make it more difficult for them to pass through the country, but said that this was not just about containment; about increased development cooperation. and to solve “political problems” in countries like Cuba or Venezuela that encourage migration.
The migrants who make up the caravan do not seem to be afraid that the measures against them will be tightened.
“I'm afraid to stay in Cuba, to die of hunger, that's what scares me,” said Dayron Salazar, a Cuban taxi driver who was traveling with several friends.
“It's all or nothing,” said Honduran José Paz, who was traveling with his wife and four children, the youngest four months old and the oldest 13.
The formation of these groups has been constant in recent years due to the slowness of immigration regulatory processes in Mexico and the lack of adequate living and work opportunities so that foreigners can afford to wait for documents.
Since late 2021, authorities have often opted to tire migrants and break up groups by offering them temporary documents, which foreigners in many cases use to continue the journey north on their own.
This time the majority are Central Americans, Venezuelans, Cubans and Colombians, but there are also migrants from African and Asian countries.
“You don’t know if you’re going to make it or what obstacles you’re going to face along the way,” added Colombian Díaz Ríos. “This is something uncertain,” he said as he walked along.
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