The new caravan of more than 4,000 migrants from southern Mexico installed on Tuesday a makeshift camp outside the Huixtla Border Transit Service Center (CAIF) to press for a migratory solution.
After walking more than 50 kilometers from Tapachula, on the border with Guatemala, this group of migrants collected firewood and set up a stove to prepare food while waiting for the attention of the authorities of the National Institute of Migration (INM).
Venezuelan migrant Daniel Rodriguez denounced that the authorities in Mexico have hindered them from reaching the United States.
“We are not enemies of the Government of Mexico, nor of its people, we are migrants who have been fleeing the hunger of our countries and Latin America, Asia, Africa and Central America,” he told Efe.
Among his petition is a temporary permit to transit to the U.S. border.
If they receive no response, they would advance along the coastal road until they find a new point where they can be heard.
“The only thing we ask is that they give us free passage as Costa Rica, Panama, Honduras and Guatemala do, because we have been emerging from the economic crisis of our country and the purpose is to be able to obtain a better quality of life for our families,” added the migrant.
Juan Carlos, from the Dominican Republic, said with a group of compatriots that he emigrated from his country because of corruption, but his journey has been difficult because there are people who have deceived them and stolen everything.
“In Mexico they have treated us well and we are waiting for attention,” said the man, who needs to continue on his way because he has seven children and his priority “is to be able to give them what is necessary.”
Children and women reported discomfort after their intense walking, due to lack of food, and many have begun to get sick with cough and flu.
At the entrance of the Huixtla customs there are elements of the National Guard with riot gear that protect the federal property to prevent them from entering in a disorderly manner.
The INM staff went out in the morning to attend to migrants who had an appointment and carried the complete protocol of the Mexican Commission for Refugee Aid (Comar).
This group of migrants had spent two weeks camping outside the migratory regularization and having no response from the authorities, they walked out on Monday.
But what seemed like a quiet day ended with problems since in the afternoon, due to the lack of attention and agility in the procedures, a group of migrants blocked all the accesses of the CAIF and a part coastal road to demand that the INM resolve their situation, after settling outside the customs of Huixtla.
The migrants crossed over the main highway that connects the municipalities of the southern border of Mexico and the capital of the state paralyzing the traffic of heavy cargo and public transport.
The annoyance of the migrants is that in the first instance the immigration authorities entered a group of people but did not give them temporary permits, before which they felt deceived and organized to close the accesses to the building.
Then a negotiating committee came to talk to the immigration authorities to remove the blockades and after that they again entered the offices in groups of 50 people.
The caravan reflects the record flow of migrants to the United States, whose Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has intercepted more than 1.6 million people so far in fiscal year 2022, which began last October.
In addition, Mexico received a record of more than 58,000 refugee applications in the first half of 2022, an annual increase of nearly 15%, according to Comar.
