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MEXICO-US-MIGRATION-HAITI-AFRICA
Stuck in southern Mexico, Haitian, African migrants settle in
TAPACHULA, Mexico, June 28, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – A determined clutch of
Haitians and Africans have set up an impromptu village outside the Century
XXI migrant detention center in southern Mexico, hoping to defy the worsening
odds and reach the United States.
Sleeping on the ground or in dirt-cheap hotel rooms, selling manicures,
metalwork and home-made food to get by, these several dozen migrants — once
a tiny drop in the sea of mostly Central American travelers trekking north —
suddenly stand out in the border town of Tapachula.
Under pressure from US President Donald Trump, Mexico has deployed
thousands of National Guardsmen to reinforce its southern border, and
launched a crack down on undocumented migration.
That has caused Guatemalan, Honduran and Salvadoran migrants — who swarmed
this town in massive caravans just months ago — to virtually disappear from
sight, hiding out on remote routes or biding their time south of the border.
But that is not an option for the Haitians and Africans, who crossed an
ocean to get here and who typically speak too little Spanish to strike out on
their own through the countryside.
Still, they are not giving up on their American dream.
“The United States is helping the Congo, they know the Congo is at war,”
said Moises Bumba, 33, explaining his dogged hope of reaching the US and
requesting asylum from the conflict racking his country, the Democratic
Republic of Congo.
He arrived here in March with his wife and son, after a six-month journey
overland from Brazil. With little money and no sign they will get visas soon,
they are sleeping on the street.
He said they do not want to be a burden on Mexico.
“The only help we are asking from the Mexican government is documents to
let us through. We don’t want anything else,” he said.
– ‘Freedom! Freedom!’ –
But for many, Tapachula is the end of the road.
Inside the detention center, hundreds of migrants are waiting to be
deported.
There have been numerous riots both here and at another detention center
nearby called the Mesoamerican Fair. There, hundreds of Haitian, African and
Asian migrants staged a massive protest Tuesday, demanding to be let out.
“Freedom! Freedom!” they shouted.
One woman fell to the ground and begged hysterically through the gap at the
bottom of the detention center’s fence to be released to get medical help for
her son.
“Help my son, he’s sick, many days. I’m begging you, there’s no water to
drink, no food. Help, help,” she screamed in broken Spanish, tears and saliva
dripping from her face.
Authorities have not allowed journalists access to the detention centers,
but reports abound of squalid conditions, overcrowding and abuse.
Indications are that the authorities are about to start sending even more
migrants there.
The head of the Mexican migration authority, Francisco Garduno, said this
week the government would end its policy of giving African migrants “regional
visas” that allowed them to remain temporarily in southern Mexico.
Too many migrants were violating the visas and traveling north to the US-
Mexican border, he said.
“It’s causing us problems, so it is not going to be possible to continue
that policy,” he told AFP.
– Putting down roots –
Outside the detention centers, others simply wait, sorting through the red
tape of the Mexican migration system in hopes of getting papers that allow
them to continue their journey.
The muddy, trash-lined streets of this impromptu neighborhood appear on no
map, but for the foreigners and impoverished Mexicans living alongside them,
it’s become something like home.
The community’s roots have grown deep enough that Ismael Gonzalez decided
to set up an internet cafe and hotel.
Gonzalez, 26, charges 18 pesos (just under a dollar) per night for a room,
and most of his renters are families.
He sympathizes with the migrants’ plight, he says in American-accented
Spanish: he himself was deported from the United States in November after
living there 23 years.
But he draws the line at using his scanners and printers to help them forge
documents. “They’re nice, they’re all good people. But some of them have a
temper,” he said of his clients.
Some migrants have set up small businesses of their own.
Pamela Agendia Tazi, a Cameroonian national, arrived here two weeks ago
with her mother after crossing Central America.
She had a miscarriage and massive infection along the way, putting her in
the hospital for several days.
Arriving in Tapachula with almost no money, she asked the owner of the
lodgings they were renting for utensils and supplies to start a mini-
restaurant.
Now she sells Cameroonian-style stewed pork and plantains from giant pots,
saving money in the hope of reaching Indiana, where her sister lives.
“I’ve been a single mother for 11 years, so I know how to work hard,” said
the 39-year-old woman, who left behind three children and plans to send for
them when she can.
Haitian migrant Joseph Luckner says he previously tried his luck living in
Chile and Ecuador, but found only racism and bad pay.
“I want to make it to Tijuana and then the United States,” he said.
“When I get there, I’ll be able to work, just like I want.”
BSS/AFP/RY/09:15 hrs