Chiapas / National / International: Migrant Caravan about to enter Oaxaca

photo_2018-10-26_12-28-05-800x400 — @Radio Zapatista

On October 27, it is expected that the majority of the Migrant Caravan-Exodus will cover the Arriaga-Juchitán of Zaragoza section, leaving Chiapas to enter Oaxaca. It is estimated that there are still more than 6000 people. “Community support, from civil, grassroots and religious organizations continues to be the main source of life and hope for the people on their journey. Also, some governmental bodies and international organizations continue to follow the Exodus and greater action was observed by the Municipal Councils of Mapastepec, Pijijiapan and Tonalá, providing medical care and food”, said the Human Rights Observation and Monitoring Group in Chiapas. .

In recent days, the reinforcement of immigration and police control in the border area has been confirmed. On October 26, a group of at least 150 migrants (some speak of 300, others of 450), composed of Hondurans, Salvadorans and Guatemalans, who walked from the municipality of Suchiate to Tapachula, Chiapas, to join the migrant caravan was detained by the Federal Police and personnel of the National Institute of Migration (INM). They were transferred, in trucks and vans, to the Siglo XXI migration station, located in Tapachula. At the time of the arrest, “panic spread when they were forced to get into the vans; Most people were able to flee in the bushes, but again families, children and adolescents were trapped. On this occasion, different media were witnesses and circulated videos that show the violence of the operation and the separation of children from their parents”, said the Human Rights Observation and Monitoring Group in Chiapas.

For his part, the Ambassador of Honduras in Mexico, Alden Rivera Montes, said that of those who entered the first wave so far, 500 migrants have approached him to be repatriated and that 1,900 submitted their request for refuge before the Mexican Commission of Assistance for Refugees (COMAR).

The Human Rights Observation and Monitoring Group in Chiapas reported that “persons and families who decided to return due to exhaustion, disinformation and the difficult environmental and institutional conditions of the exodus, are exposed to the absence of accompanying protocols for repatriation by town halls, consulates and institutions responsible for the attention to vulnerable groups, as is the case of children. This absence translates into long waits in spaces without guarantee of safety, food and health”.

The same 26, almost a week after the Caravan entered Mexico, the president Enrique Peña Nieto announced a program for the attention to migrants called “You are in your house” that seeks to provide medical care, education, temporary employment and an identification to those who have recently entered the South border. It raised some restrictions to access these benefits: applicants must be in Oaxaca or Chiapas and must have registered their entry or their request for refuge with the INM. The procedures will be free, said the Ministry of the Interior

“Ninety-nine percent of the members of the caravan rejected the offer because it is specific to Chiapas and Oaxaca, states in a similar condition to the countries from which we come,” the organization of Peoples Without Borders told the media.

The migrants have requested a meeting with Peña Nieto and his successor, Andrés Manuel Andrés López Obrador, in Mexico City where the caravan could arrive on November 2. From there, some migrants could choose to stay and work in Mexico, but several continue to pretend to reach the US. The president of this country, Donald Trump, has described the passage of the caravan as a “national emergency” and warned that he will mobilize 800 soldiers to the border along with two thousand elements of the National Guard to contain the Caravan.

For more information (in Spanish) :

Migrantes rechazan oferta de Peña (La Jornada, 27 de octubre de 2018)

Actualización del Éxodo Migrante (OSC, 27 de octubre de 2018)

México ofrece trabajo y atención médica a la caravana migrante para frenar su paso a EE UU (El País, 27 de octubre de 2018)

Peña Nieto trata de evitar que la Caravana de Migrantes llegue a EEUU (El Mundo, 27 de octubre de 2018)

ACCIÓN URGENTE-ÉXODO MIGRANTE (OSC, 27 de octubre de 2018)

Policía Federal y agentes del INM detienen a 150 migrantes en Chiapas; intentaban unirse a la caravana (Animal Político, 26 de octubre de 2018)

Interceptan a hondureños que querían sumarse a la caravana (Proceso, 26 de octubre de 2018)

EPN anuncia plan “Estás en tu Casa” dirigido a migrantes en México (La Jornada, 26 de octubre de 2018)

ACTUALIZACIÓN ÉXODO MIGRANTE (OSC, 26 de octubre de 2018)

Caravana de migrantes a su paso por Pijijiapan y Tonalá, Chiapas (Radio Zapatista, 26 de octubre)

ACTUALIZACIÓN DEL ÉXODO MIGRANTE(OSC, 25 de octubre de 2018)