On the southern border of Mexico, on the natural route that migrants follow, thousands continue walking along the coastal highway, seeking to reach the north, despite threats of mass deportations.
On Monday, January 20, while Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th president of the United States, some 2,500 people of various nationalities organized in a “caravan” left the city of Tapachula in search of the American dream. “We want to get to the north”; “Let them touch their hearts,” they say while waiting to cross all of Mexico.
In the municipality of Huixtla, another group of people on the move, of different nationalities, rests after a walk of more than 40 kilometers on the asphalt. Both groups were surprised in southern Mexico by the suspension of appointments for the CBP One program to request political asylum.
Despite this, no one has lost hope that “things can be resolved” and that they can move towards the United States or, if necessary, stay in Mexico to work, thinks Venezuelan José Ramón Parra.
“We are moving at the pace of this caravan towards Mexico City, in order to have hope, to see what can be done, because we really have a critical situation in our country. For the moment I want to get to Mexico City, to see what decision the United States policy makes.”
Parra, unlike other migrants who say they are willing to do anything to get to the northern border, says that he would not risk it if the border is closed, “it is better to wait to enter in the most legal way possible.”
Two days ago, the National Migration Institute “dissolved” another “migrant caravan” that was advancing along the coastal region, by giving them temporary stay documents and transporting them to the capital, Tuxtla Gutiérrez.
Chiapas government will seek alternatives to employ them
“We will welcome them with open arms and we are already preparing to provide public transportation to bring them either to the Soconusco region, or to the central region, which is Tuxtla Gutiérrez? and take advantage of the qualified labor they have in masonry, carpentry and agricultural production,” said Governor Eduardo Ramírez Aguilar.
The Chiapas governor said this when visiting the Jesús El Buen Pastor shelter run by activist Olga Sánchez, and in the face of possible deportations of compatriots and foreigners. He assured that his government will seek alternatives to employ them so they can contribute to the development of the southern border.
He announced a temporary employment program to clean up the city of Tapachula, which has become an important point from which groups of people organized in “caravans” leave, in addition to concentrating the largest number of mobile population in the region.
“We are going to show that the migrant population has the capacity to work, and we are going to make Tapachula, which is very hospitable to you, a clean city, so we are going to say that migrants came to clean our city,” he told the foreigners staying there.
Ramírez Aguilar expressed his solidarity with President Claudia Sheinbaum, if he did not agree with the “Stay in Mexico” program, because he pointed out that each country must assume its commitment to its fellow citizens. “Mexico should never be the backyard of any country,” he said.
After recognizing that migrants are a vulnerable group that suffers harassment from organized crime, the governor of Chiapas commented: “There is a change of government in the United States, we do not condemn nor will Mexico see our brothers in transit mobility, migrants, we will never see them as criminals, never, we will see them as what they are people and human beings.”
Source: proceso
