CORRESPONDENT FROM WASHINGTON. Tapachula is in Chiapas, on the border with Guatemala, and is the mandatory crossing point for anyone on their way to the United States. There begins and Mexico and from there begins the road that goes up the country along the coast and then opens up to the US border points. And it is in Tapachula that migrants, from Guatemala, Venezuela and Honduras, gather to apply for asylum. A first step necessary to hope to reach the American borders. The situation at this border point became unmanageable and on Tuesday a group of migrants staged a dramatic hunger strike. Women and men, a dozen people according to Reuters, took needle and thread and stitched their lips. An – extreme – way to highlight the state of abandonment in which they ended up and to ask the Mexican authorities to speed up the granting of visas.
The number of those applying for a refugee visa or asylum has doubled in Mexico since 2019, reaching 131,000 in 2021. 39% of these applicants are from Haiti. And 70% of the total entry requests are filed right in Tapachula where border authorities are unable to keep up with the applications. “I have an appointment in three months – a Venezuelan migrant told the AFP agency – and I don’t have the money to survive here all this time”. There is no more room in refugee centers, refugees sleep in city parks, on the benches along the streets. A situation in which migrants live which is a limbo, impossible for them to foresee a day, a moment in which they will have an answer and will be able to continue their journey – with makeshift vehicles and often on foot – towards the United States. Where, among other things, the risk of being in a high limbo, in an infinite wait, is almost a certainty given the policy of the US government that prevents asylum seekers from entering US soil to apply. Thus border areas with Ciudad Juarez, Tijuana, Nogales have become even bigger Tapachula.
The Mexican National Department of Immigration has called the protest of the sewn-in mouths “nonsense”. “It is worrying that these gestures take place with the consent of those who call themselves the representatives of migrants with the intention of putting further pressure on the authorities by asking for things that are already being done”. Pregnant women, children, victims of crimes, the elderly are in fact – the Mexican authorities claim – in a sort of privileged channel for obtaining an entry visa.
Mexico has received several pressures from the US government to curb the flow of refugees at origin, arguing that Washington should do more to support the countries they flee from by increasing the provision of development funds. In 2021, the United States detained 1.7 million migrants along the border with Mexico, the highest level ever.
Unlimited access to all site content
€ 1 / month for 3 months, then € 3.99 / month for 3 months
Unlock unlimited access to all content on the site
#sew #lips #hunger #strike #dramatic #protest #migrants #dream #United #States