The cleaning brigades are “a way to thank them for accepting us,” said Eduardo, who with 120 other compatriots are engaged in cleaning streets and parks for free in Tapachula.
Tapachula (Mexico), November 21 (EFE) .- Salvadorans who entered Mexico in a caravan of Central American migrants formed brigades to clean public spaces in Tapachula , bordering Guatemala, said the United Nations Agency for Refugees (UNHCR). ).
The cleaning brigades are “a way to thank them for accepting us,” said Eduardo, who with 120 other compatriots is engaged in free street cleaning and parks in Tapachula, in the southeastern state of Chiapas.
This group of Salvadorans arrived in the third of the caravans that began to cross into Mexico in mid-October, and chose to seek asylum, while the rest of the migrants advance to the border with the United States or are already in the border city of Tijuana
In an Acnur communiqué, Eduardo said he decided to integrate the brigade after reading the criticisms that the local press made to the Central Americans arrived Tapachula and has the support of the municipal authorities.
“When seeing a publication in the newspaper that mentioned that there were many people wandering in the street and that people were very worried, I decided with another partner to find a way to support the municipality,” he said.
The brigades are planning to clean up the nearby municipalities and also the rivers that are in the surroundings, said the Salvadoran.
The head of the UNHCR office in Tapachula, Kristin Riss, described the initiative of the brigades as “a good example of the mutual support that can be offered between the two peoples.”
Some support the people who leave their countries because they need it and those who ask for asylum dedicate their time in cleaning tasks “as a symbolic gesture of gratitude”, commented Riss.
Since mid-October, about 9,000 migrants have entered Mexico in four caravans, of which some 4,000 are already in Tijuana to seek asylum in the United States and the rest are located in different parts of the national territory.
Source. sinembargo
The Mazatlan Post
