Concern in Valle del Cauca at the presence of thousands of Haitian migrants who want to join the United States

The authorities of the Cauca Valley They expressed their concern at the massive arrival of Haitian migrants in the department, and in particular in Cali, in order to continue their journey to the United States. After the assassination of the president, Jovenel Moses, this situation would have worsened in recent weeks.

This was announced by the director from the Cali transport terminal, Ivanov Russi, who said the figures had been checked and in smaller quantities until the assassination of the President of Haiti. This panorama has resulted in greater political instability and “has led to a huge increase in the number of migrants trying to cross our border“, According to statements collected by The weather.

According to figures recorded by the company, approximately 1,500 migrants, with children and babies in their arms, they try to cross the border between Ecuador Yes Colombia, then cross the towns of Pasto, Popayán, Cali, Pereira, Medellín and, finally, in Necoclí (Antioquia), seek to cross the border with Panama.

The manager explained that, taking into account the conditions of intercommunal transport and special services, it is not allowed to mobilize migrants, which accumulate around the city terminal in order to find a way to get around. “This generates all these people must mobilize through illegal services, hackers, falling into human trafficking networks“He added.

Therefore, Russi expressed the importance of accompanying said vulnerable population on their way to North American territory: “We believe that a temporary humanitarian corridor should be established so that these people can circulate without problem on our territory and thus we act preventively because by not finding mechanisms to travel, they can decide to stay and live in all the western cities of our country”.

The colonel Jorge Urquijo, police commander of Valle del Cauca, said the groups were entering the country through various regular and irregular routes: “We fight against migrant smuggling networks, mainly, in order to protect these citizens who have been exploited ”. In addition, for more than 15 days, it is estimated that some 10 thousand migrants, also coming from Cuba, Venezuela and other African countries, they concentrated in Necoclí.

“We couldn’t buy a ticket, finally the authorities took control», Declared one of the migrants who had been in the municipality of Antioquia for 15 days, in dialogue with CNN. In turn, the general Gustavo Franco Gomez, Commander of Region 6 of the Police, declared that “on all roads, he maintains this device which makes it possible to accompany and prevent these people from being affected by criminals, price collection abuses, theft or other types of crime”.

The vice president, Marta Lucia Ramirez, met this Friday the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Panama, Erika Mouynes, in order to agree on a migratory flow at the border to avoid a major humanitarian and health crisis in the region. For this, it is expected that next Monday the authorities of the two countries will hold a new meeting during which these conditions will be defined: from when to where they can enter Panama.

Trafficking in human beings, concern:

On August 2, the National Uniform Police, attached to the Traffic and Transport Section of Nariño, they captured five people which, according to what has been reported, transported, in two public service buses to 99 migrants from Haiti. Those currently detained were intercepted by the authorities as they moved along the road between Pasto and Mojarras.

In a statement, police said these arrangements are run by criminal groups, who, in the midst of their actions outside the law, “they operate like businesses and form networks that exploit the vulnerability of people when they cannot legally migrate”.

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