On October 19, thousands of Honduran migrants entered Mexico where, according to media reports, they were greeted by tear gas. On October 13, they had left in a caravan from San Pedro Sula in the North of Honduras with the intention of arriving in Mexico to continue later to the United States. According to information from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Mexico (UN-DH), the caravan is made up of more than 3,000 people – including minors, women and seniors – fleeing violence, poverty and human rights violations in their country.
This Caravan has provoked the anger of the President of the United States, Donald Trump, who has called on the Central American countries and the Mexican authorities to do everything necessary to stop them, even threatening to suspend the financial support given to them.
Since October 17, the Mexican authorities had sent some 240 members of the Federal Police to the southern border so as to accompany an operation of the National Institute of Migration, which would include the observation of the National Commission of Human Rights (CNDH). For its part, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) announced that migrants would be treated in accordance with the law and with respect to their human rights: those who have a passport or visa will enter as well as those who submit refugee applications while those who violate the law will be deported. The head of the SRE, Luis Videgaray, also announced that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was asked to help Mexico to process these requests and to find a permanent solution.
In light of what happened on the 19th, the Secretary of the Interior, Alfonso Navarrete, indicated that an agreement had been reached with the migrants for them to enter Mexico in an “orderly manner”, in groups of between 50 and 100 people to be reviewed, but that the Caravan “broke the agreement” by trying to enter Mexico “by force” and “hurting” Mexican police.
On the other hand, several civil and social organizations, as well as churches, have expressed the need to respect migrants’ human rights and calling for solidarity.
For more information (in Spanish):
Ante crisis humanitaria, exigimos a los gobiernos de GUatemala y de México, respeto a los derechos que tienen las personas migrantes (OSC, 19 de octubre de 2018)
La caravana de migrantes entra en territorio mexicano (El País, 19 de octubre de 2018)
Qué busca la caravana migrante y por qué México los recibe con 200 policías para impedir su paso (Animal Político, 19 de octubre de 2018)
La policía mexicana lanzó gases contra los migrantes, según un VIDEO de periodistas en la zona (Sin Embargo, 19 de octubre de 2018)
México recibe a la avanzada de la Caravana Migrante; llegan las primeras peticiones de asilo (Sin Embargo, 19 de octubre de 2018)
Policía Federal frena irrupción de caravana migrante a México (La Jornada, 19 de octubre de 2018)
Detienen en Chiapas a Irineo Mújica, activista defensor de migrantes (La Jornada, 18 de octubre de 2018)
Gobierno mexicano atiende solicitudes de refugio para migrantes hondureños (La Jornada, 18 de octubre de 2018)
EN RESPUESTA A LA LLEGADA DE LA CARAVANA DE HONDURAS A TAPACHULA, CHIAPAS (OSC, 18 de octubre de 2018)
¿CARAVANA O ÉXODO DE MIGRANTES? (CELAM, 18 de octubre de 2018)
For more information from SIPAZ:
National / International: Mexico, migration filter? September 21, 2018
National: 84 Organizations and Collectives Oppose Gendarmerie at Southern Border April 30, 2018
Mexico – National/International: Latest Amnesty International Report on the Deadly Return of Central American Asylum Seekers from Mexico February 15, 2018
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