Bodies lined up on the asphalt, wrapped in shrouds, next to a truck lying on the road. The shocking image was looping on Friday, December 10, in the national media the day after one of the worst tragedies of illegal immigration to Mexico. The tragedy sheds a harsh light on the perverse effects of the “schizophrenic” migration policy of the president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (“AMLO”), between humanist discourse and repressive measures.
At least 55 illegal immigrants, including a 16-year-old minor, died Thursday in the southern state of Chiapas, bordering Guatemala. The accident also left 104 injured, according to the latest report from the authorities. More than 150 migrants, mostly Guatemalans, were crammed into the trailer of a truck. The driver, speeding, lost control of his vehicle hitting the pillar of a cement bridge. The cabin came loose. Forty-nine illegal immigrants died instantly, six others in hospital. Some were thrown off by the violence of the shock. Others died of suffocation or crushing, according to the authorities. The driver fled.
The migrants had crossed the border illegally “For several days with the help of people traffickers”said on Friday a representative of the authorities in Chiapas, the gateway to a historic flow of illegal immigrants from Central America. This year, 228,000 undocumented migrants were arrested by the Mexican authorities, of which 82,627 were expelled to their countries of origin, led by Honduras and El Salvador. Worse, 1.3 million migrants were arrested between January and September by the American migration services. At the request of Washington, Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras, have since April reinforced their military system to try to block migrants upstream. There are 28,000 soldiers and national guards deployed in southern and northern Mexico.
A disappointed hope
“The tragedy is the consequence of the hardening (…) of a militarized, repressive and violent migration policy, which forces migrants to take increasingly dangerous routes”, denounced, just after the tragedy, 53 migrant defense organizations. According to the press, the prices of smugglers explode, going from 3,000 dollars (2,650 euros) to more than 13,000 dollars (11,500 euros) from Central America. Transportation in trucks is one of the methods most used by smugglers, often linked to organized crime.
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