African migrants live their own tragedy in southern Mexico

Confused amidst the tide of Central American migrants flooding the state of Chiapas, in southern Mexico, and other travelers from more distant regions, they lead an inadvertent exodus by local and US immigration authorities.

In cities like Tapachula and others, close to the border between Mexico and Guatemala, a significant presence of citizens of African countries, but also from India and Bangladesh, seeks to reach the United States.

The Mexican authorities are content with several of them in the Mesoamerican Fair, an alternative migration facility in a Tapachula Park, where they are waiting for a visa to continue their journey or stay in Mexico.

"My story is very long, in my country people are fighting"he told the agency AFP a Congolese citizen who avoids giving his name by returning from a nearby convenience store with bags filled with food.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been through a bloody armed conflict for two decades displaced about 4.5 million CongoleseHundreds of thousands have left the country, according to UNHCR. Many of them are seeking to travel to the United States where they have facilities to apply for asylum.

"That's why I left my place and that's why I'm herehe said in jerky English before quickly returning to the establishment.

Mexican authorities have restricted access to the shelter where activists estimate that there are more than 1,000 migrants who are not from Central America.

A security official said that a special permit is needed to be able to talk with them and that the National Institute of Migration (NMI) was not available to comment on it.

L & # 39; agency AFP He observed that during the day many migrants jumped over a wall buy food at nearby stores and return to the hostel quickly without being seen.

As Central American migrants, they expect a visa that allows them to continue their journey, even though the Mexican government said it was now giving the document more "selectively"and many people wait for weeks.

"There is no solution to their case. Through psychological pressure, they prevent them from reaching the northsays Luis Rey Villagrán, an activist working for migrants.

"What they want is to migrate, to walk and that is what the National Institute of Migration wants to avoid at all costs."he adds.

Villagrán points out that many of them do not speak English, Spanish or French, which complicates the task of immigration authorities to communicate with them properly.

A man from Eritrea told in precarious English that he had arrived by plane in Brazil and that he had then continued on his way to Mexico.

"There are political problems in Eritrea, that's why I arrived"While waiting in front of a grocery store near the refuge, avoid, like other migrants, to give his name and speak in front of a video camera."

Several African migrants were stranded in front of the Tapachula immigration station, where more than 500 Cubans escaped last Thursdayalthough later they were transferred to the hostel of the Mesoamerican Fair.

As in other inns of the country, many remain alone lying on the floor, while others watch their cell phones. Earlier, a religious song was heard by a group of women.

Like Central American migrants, they found that Mexico had tightened its immigration policies through raids, arrests and a narrower pbadage in the north of the country.

Mexico claims to have faced an "unusual" increase in the number of migrants, mainly from Central America, with some 300,000 crossing the country in the last three months.

Most seek to reach the United States, despite the rejection of the country's president, Donald Trump, who considers them a threat to security.

As a result, Trump is pressuring Mexico to arrest migrants under the threat of border closure, which would affect the $ 1 million bilateral trade already affected by Washington's decision. to rebadign 2,000 customs officers to immigration control, which has delayed pbadage. merchandise

With information from AFP