© Vocesmesoamericanas
Migrants and their families as well as activists and human-rights defenders launched a “Migrant Pilgrimage” on 15 April in El Naranjo, Guatemala. They passed through Chiapas, Villahermosa, and Tabasco. At that time, a total of 800 Central Americans had joined the caravan. Starting on 19 April, passing through Holy Week, the procession became the “March for the freedom of transit of migrants.” Through these mobilizations, participants sought to call attention to the lack of security experienced by Central American migrants upon crossing through Mexico to arrive in the U.S.: murders, kidnappings, extortion, rapes, robbery, and exploitation are part of their daily bread.
On 23 April, having now more than a thousand participants, the march arrived in Mexico City, where protestors confronted the President, demanding an audience with Enrique Peña Nieto. However, they were received only by a commission that handed over their petitions calling for free transit to the United States. Fray Tomás González, migrant defender at the home “La 72” in Tenosique, Tabasco, reported that on 24 April they were to have two meetings, one with the Secretary of Governance and the other at the Senate of the Republic.
For more information (in Spanish):
Vía crucis de migrantes prosigue como caminata por la libertad de tránsito, La Jornada 20 de abril de 2014
Arriba al DF caravana de migrantes centroamericanos, La Jornada 23 de abril de 2014
Viacrucis migrante llega hoy al DF; quieren hablar con Peña Nieto, 23 de abril de 2014
National/International: Organizational call for the migrant crossroads (9 de abril de 2014)
National: Collaborators of the “72″ migrant home abandon work due to threats (24 June 2013)
National: New death-threats directed against Fray Tomás, director of “La 72″ (27 March 2013)
Chiapas/Tabasco: “The forgotten border” press-conference (13 December 2011)
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