This Saturday, April 22, in southern Mexico, thousands of migrants from different countries prepare to leave on Sunday in the first migratory “via crucis” from the state of Chiapas. The planned route is to cross different demarcations of the Mexican Republic until you get to the Basilica of Guadalupein Mexico City, to make visible in this way the ordeal faced by migrants in Mexico.
According to the migrants, they will walk carrying a cross and banners in which they will denounce what they call “state crime”.
For his part, Irineo Mujica, director of Pueblos Sin Fronteras, established that with this “via crucis” they will demand the dissolution of the National Institute of Migration (INM), not only in name, but in a structural way to structurally and deeply cut the corruption that prevails in said dependency.
“That immediately the INM is demilitarized with suspension and disqualification of the current delegates”, said Mujica.
As detailed by the Mexican-American activist, it will be necessary to close the immigration stations and grant entry to migrants, as well as tourists applying multiple migratory forms, known as tourist visas.
“Tapachula is hell and a large prison full of corruption, and we left in peace in ‘Viacrucis’ to Mexico City to demand justice and freedom”
In interview for EFEYamilet Bonilla, a migrant from Honduras, assured that she is ready to go on the “Viacrucis” because the authorities of migration does not want to grant them papers in the state of Tapachula.
“In my case, the cartel (organized crime) caught us with my daughter and my friends who stayed behind. We were going to San Cristóbal de las Casas (Chiapas), although they did nothing to us, because God is great, but he is dangerous,” Bonilla explained.
The woman also highlighted that in the Mexican territory they are violating the human rights and it is a “hell” for the migrants since they have suffered hunger and have been cheated in different ways.
Another of the migrants who joined the Via Crucis is Fatima, an African migrant from Equatorial Guinea. She denounced that they were walking towards Tapachula but a vehicle was stopped and those who were traveling in it were deported to Guatemala.
It was then that from Guatemala they walked back to the Tapachula border and joined the migrants who are going to walk towards the Mexican capital. “This ‘Via Crucis’ is convenient for us because we don’t have any more money to move forward and because of the difficulty of getting to Mexico City,” he assured.
During this April 22, the Provisional Migration Care Center, located in the Ecological Park of Tapachula, assists Haitian and African migrants to grant them visa for humanitarian reasonswho are going to give them a document to transit and reach the Northern States.
The caravan is expected to consist of up to 2 thousand people in transit.
The scrutiny of the Government of Mexico has grown since the March 27 fire in Ciudad Juárez, on the border with the United States, where 40 migrants died at a station of the National Institute of Migration (INM).
According to Mexican civil organizations, 2022 was the most tragic year for migrants in Mexicosince some 900 died in the attempt to cross without documents from the country to the United States.
(With information from EFE)
