By EFE
02 Jun 2024, 09:10 AM EDT
Juan Manuel Blanco / TAPACHULA – The National Migration Institute (INM) of Mexico and the National Guard (GN) deployed a road operation this Saturday to stop the caravan of hundreds of migrants that left from the southern border to pressure the authorities on the eve of Sunday’s election.
On the Villa Comaltitlán-Huixtla highway section, in the state of Chiapas, at least four Venezuelans surrendered to the immigration authorities because the officials promised help in the deployment, made up of seven units of the INM and two of the GN, which monitor the migrants on their way.
The caravan, which left the border on Friday with hundreds of migrants from Cuba, Central America and Venezuela, then rested in the Huixtla dome, about 40 kilometers from Tapachula, Mexico’s largest city, on the border with Guatemala.
Honduran Gaby assured EFE that the agents “in an arrogant manner” tried to talk and take them to Huixtla, but they did not accept the proposal, so they will try to continue walking.
“One day before the elections, tomorrow are the elections in Mexico, instead of helping us they are returning people to Tapachula, they are returning many families, because (others) have already arrived in Mexico City and they returned them. Instead of helping us get out, what they do is they go back on the entire process we are going through,” he said.
A migrant from Cuba, who preferred not to share his name for fear of reprisals, asserted that the INM agents already “deceived” them the first time with the promise of taking them to other cities, but in reality they detained them.
“They want to return us again, they don’t want us to go any further,” he said.
Juan, from Honduras, also accused the INM of seeking to stop them, but warned that the caravan will continue as soon as it can.
“All migrants are together, we are going to continue together in the name of Jesus Christ, now it has become difficult because of the water and the children. Let them support us, if they really want to help us, let them not separate from the caravan and let them go together with us as far as we go and let the National Guard go,” he said.
Mexican authorities are intensifying their security operations on the roads and on the southern border before Sunday’s elections, which will be the largest in the country’s history because more than 98 million voters are called to renew more than 20,000 positions, including the presidency and Congress.
The Mexican Government increased its detection of irregular migrants by almost 200% annually in the first quarter of 2024, when it intercepted more than 360,000.