Hundreds of migrants, including Africans, announced an upcoming march to the Mexican capital to claim their rights since they have been waiting for their paperwork in the city of Tapachula, on the southern border of the country.
In a message to media communication, activist and lawyer Luis García Villagrán, who gives legal support to migrants in the municipality of the southeastern state of Chiapas, announced the demonstration without specifying a date.
“We have decided in a general consensus to leave Tapachula and participate in an exodus so that we get the attention of public opinion,” Villagrán said.
For about a month and a half, hundreds of African migrants have held protests in Tapachulato demand that the Mexican authorities expedite their immigration procedures and allow them to transit through the national territory until they reach the border with the United States.
The protests, mostly peaceful, regained strength in mid-September when migrants clashed with agents of the newly created National Guard and the Federal Police in the main access of the 21st Century immigration station in the city of Tapachula.
This new march, according to Villagrán, will take place because the National Migration Institute (INM) “has decided not to respect the law and torture migrants, mainly Africans.”
Given this situation, he said that with this march he hopes to capture the attention of the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, so that he “respects” the migration law.
“Here the immigration law is not respected and therefore we are going to walk towards Mexico City so that the president will listen to us and take action on the matter,” Villagrán concluded.
Since the beginning of the year, more than 3,500 African migrants have registered with the INM and since August they installed tents outside the Siglo XXI station, and have participated in protests in Tapachula.
Migration increased in Mexico since October 2018, when caravans with thousands of migrants, mostly Central Americans, began to cross the country to reach the United States.
At the beginning of June, the United States and Mexico reached an immigration agreement to prevent Washington, on the instructions of President Donald Trump, from imposing tariffs on Mexican imports.
As a result, the Mexican Government sent the National Guard to the northern and southern borders – a new security body promoted by the Executive – and more migrant personnel were hired, which substantially reduced the number of migrants arriving at the border of Mexico with the United States.
Source: el comercio
The Mazatlan Post
