Twelve countries discuss in Mexico how to confront the migratory flow to the US.

The presidents and chancellors of a dozen Latin American countries discuss in Mexico mechanisms that contribute to a migration ordered, at a time when tens of thousands of people seek to reach the border with USA.

Among others, the presidents of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, of Cuba, Miguel Díaz Canel and of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, arrived at the summit, which, according to the official program.

It takes place in the archaeological site of Palenque, in the Mexican state of Chiapas (south), bordering Guatemala and where the bulk of those who leave their countries escape poverty and violence travel.

Before the meeting, the dignitaries took a private tour of the archaeological zone, accompanied by their host, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who hours later published a photo on X (formerly Twitter) with his guests.

“The Palenque Meeting, for a fraternal and well-being neighborhood, is a call to join efforts, wills and resources to address the causes of the migratory phenomenon”wrote the Mexican president.

“This is a humanitarian issue in which we have to work together”added López Obrador, who appears flanked by Maduro, Díaz-Canel, Petro, Xiomara Castro of Honduras and the Prime Minister of Haiti, Ariel Henry.

Meanwhile in Tapachula, a border city and the first concentration point for migrants in Mexico, a group of undocumented immigrants held a protest.

They burned three piñatas with the faces of presidents Maduro and Díaz Canel, as well as the Nicaraguan Daniel Ortega, with a sign that said: “Summit of Repressors.”

At the meeting “The causes of human mobility will be analyzed, such as poverty, inequality, lack of job opportunities” and “coordinated actions will be explored” for an orderly transit of people, according to the Mexican Foreign Ministry.

Belize, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala and Panama are represented by officials of different ranks.

The vast majority of the 1.7 million migrants who, according to Mexico, have reached the border with the United States during 2023, considered the land route, come from all of these countries. “most dangerous in the world” by the International Organization for Migration.

“Vile and dirty business”

“What I can assume from that meeting is that they are going to decide the deportation of each one of us who are on the road,” Jorge Rodríguez, a 33-year-old Venezuelan who is resting with other migrants in a shelter for Catholic nuns in Palenque, told AFP.

Rodríguez left his country two months ago and walked through the dangerous Darién jungle, on the border between Colombia and Panama.

He knows that last Wednesday the first flight with Venezuelans deported from the United States arrived in Caracas following an agreement between Joe Biden’s government and Maduro, despite the fact that Washington does not formally recognize him as president.

“It is a vile and dirty business to use us as the card they have up their sleeve. Money for your pocket (from the government). And what about the Venezuelan?”adds Rodríguez, also informed that Biden eased economic sanctions against Caracas.

Confusion

The immigration crisis is one of the obstacles that Biden faces towards re-election in 2024, with constant accusations from Republicans and even allies that he has failed in that area.

Biden asked Congress on Friday for US$13.6 billion to reinforce the border with Mexico, manage irregular migration and fight fentanyl, within a package of more than US$105 billion to help Ukraine and Israel and counter China.

The Democrat arrived at the White House in 2021 with the border closed due to the pandemic. After being reopened, he has taken different measures aimed at Venezuelans, Haitians, Cubans and Nicaraguans.

“There is a lot of confusion, the information is sometimes wrong and that makes migration flow more”Evelina Ramírez, a shelter psychologist and witness to how the flow picks up with each new American announcement, tells AFP.

Upon arriving in southern Mexico, he adds, the migrants discover that they have to be on the northern border to obtain these benefits and they go clandestinely without waiting for a permit from Mexico, becoming easy prey for organized crime and the authorities themselves.

“We see how the immigration situation is getting worse every day,” says Ramírez, worried about the arrival of “drug cartels” to Chiapas, previously untouched by violence but which, he claims, is now the terrain of disputes over the control of clandestine migration.

Source: AFP