Migrants, mostly from Cuba, Venezuela and Central America, who go to the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance (COMAR) 1 office to complete paperwork, reported that people carrying firearms and knives sell more than a hundred places for between 300 and 500 pesos and threaten them with death if they protest. A Cuban woman who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals, explained that three days ago she went to the vicinity of the Los Cerritos ecological park, where COMAR 1 is located, to begin the process of seeking refuge, after the cancellation of CBP One.
She added that she stood in line on Monday afternoon and had to spend the night to be seen the next day; but to her surprise when she woke up there were more than a hundred people in front of them. When she expressed her dissatisfaction and claimed that these compatriots had not queued, some people who were supposedly carrying firearms and knives threatened to harm them despite the presence of the National Guard. “The dissatisfaction is that we wait in a long line, we wake up sleeping on the floor and when we wake up the people who sell the tickets for 300 and 500 pesos go first to their people, while we have three days and until today (Thursday) they have not attended to us,” she said, visibly angry.
Another young Cuban said that at night, people who sell tickets threaten with knives and firearms those who oppose allowing migrants in the first tickets. “We are not going to let anyone in anymore and if something happens to me, I hold those who sell tickets responsible, it is not fair that we are still sunbathing and sleeping on the floor and are not attended to,” said the woman.
Foreigners who have decided to stay in Mexico and are seeking to legalize their stay by requesting asylum, called on the authorities to provide security at night since these armed people can hurt someone. They explained that COMAR is serving an average of 400 people from 8 to 11 in the morning, but it is expected that in the next few days the offices will be saturated due to the arrival of hundreds of migrants at this border point.
Source: chiapas.quadratin
