Tapachula, Chiapas. A new caravan of about 400 migrants left the city of Tapachula, Chiapas, on Monday morning, seeking to advance toward the border with the United States.
The non-nationals left Bicentennial Park in the early hours of the morning and headed toward the coastal highway to continue north on foot.
In the contingent of nationalities from Central and South America, mainly, there are also women, children and elderly people who flee their countries from violence, poverty and political crisis.
“In Venezuela everything is going to get worse with the reelection of (Nicolás) Maduro, there is no work, there is no life. If Edmundo (González, from the opposition) won, we thought we would stay, but with what happened, we’d better leave, it will get worse,” said Venezuelan Cristina Sánchez.
The woman began the search for the American dream together with her husband and two teenage children. According to their plans, they intend to reach Mexico City and there complete the CBP ONE process with the United States government and wait for the appointment before reaching the northern border.
The group travels escorted by state patrols that help speed up vehicular traffic on the international highway to prevent accidents.
Just last Saturday, a truck ran over a group of migrants walking from Suchiate, on the border with Guatemala, to Tapachula, leaving one dead and several injured.
COMAR Offices in Tapachula Saturated
Some two thousand people of different nationalities saturated the offices of the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance in Tapachula, Chiapas, on Monday, seeking to begin the process to request asylum.
The conglomeration of migrants caused long lines in the streets surrounding the federal office located in the south center of the border city.
Cuban René Méndez said that he has been going to the COMAR offices for three months, fulfilling the documents and interviews required to obtain refugee status.
However, he regretted that the process is taking so long when it is public knowledge that Cubans live in a dictatorship and in constant violation of human rights.
“The appointments are delayed, we are barely getting through those who had an appointment in May, there are too many people waiting,” he said.
Cuban Teresa Martínez said that she has forgotten about the American dream because of the difficulties and has decided to stay in Mexico. Now she intends to obtain Mexican asylum to be able to bring her three children who stayed on the Island.
But she also criticized the delay in the process because she has even lost her job for regularly going to the COMAR offices.
This year, COMAR has registered a reduction of almost 50 percent in asylum requests throughout the country, according to official figures. By July, 46,920 requests had been registered, while in the same period last year there were 88,303.
Original article by Edgar H. Clemente, La Jornada, August 12th, 2024.
Translated by Schools for Chiapas.