A hundred migrants forcibly left a migration center located in the municipality of Berriozábal, in the southeastern Mexican state of Chiapas, after allegedly being detained for 20 days.
According to the reports, the migrants managed to escape from the immigration center, located about 40 minutes from Tuxtla Gutiérrez, the state capital, after forcing the main gate and later fled, without the agents in charge being able to prevent their departure.
Their escape, they said, occurred to avoid a tragedy like the one that occurred last Monday at a migration station in Ciudad Juárez, where 39 migrants died due to a fire.
One of the migrants who came in the group told the media that all they want is to move freely and peacefully through Mexico to reach the United States.
“We do not have weapons, we are not criminals, we come for a better future and they do not respect our rights,” explained a migrant who fled the place.
Another migrant denounced that where they were detained, “rather we were locked up and it is not a shelter, but a prison, where we have no voice and no rights.”
“They had us locked up, they are very high walls, although they did not hit us, the psychological suffering and food is the worst.”
In an interview with EFE, the director of the Center for Human Dignification (CDH), Luis Rey García Villagrán, considered that in these cases the unrestricted defense of the human rights of migrants should be prioritized.
“If this migratory crisis is not understood from a human point of view, the National Institute of Migration (INM) will never be able to contain that sea of people who will continue walking,” he argued.
In addition, he said that migration must be humanized, with agents who understand that “they are dealing with highly vulnerable human beings, women, children and men.”
García Villagrán pointed out that under no circumstances and for no reason can a migrant remain deprived of their liberty for more than 72 hours in immigration stations.
“Enough of politicizing the migration issue, the migration issue must be humanized, so that what we already saw in Ciudad Juárez does not happen.”
Last Monday night, a fire in a migration center in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, northern Mexico, killed 39 people, of whom 6 were Hondurans, 7 Salvadorans, 18 Guatemalans, 1 Colombian and 7 Venezuelans, according to the Mexican authorities.
There were about 70 migrants at the station. In addition to the deceased, the accident left 28 injured, 24 remain hospitalized and 4 were discharged.
After their escape, the migrants headed for the highway in the municipality of Coita to reach Arriaga and cross into the neighboring state of Chiapas.
The state Civil Protection authorities accompanied this group of people with an ambulance, medical care and hydrating drinks to continue on their way without exposing themselves to an accident.
With information from EFE
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