Unter den Refugees, die an der Südgrenze Mexikos aufgehalten werden, befinden sich zunehmend mehr Afrikaner. In Chiapas ist es bei dem Versuch, diese Grenze zu umschiffen, zu einem tödlichen Unglück gekommen. Derweil haben Migrant*innen an der Grenze nach Texas eine Brücke besetzt.
Several thousand African migrants are stuck in limbo in southern Mexico.
The African migrants have made a dangerous journey of thousands of kilometres up through Latin America in the hope of reaching the United States. Mexican officials have stopped them after coming under pressure from Washington to stem the flow of migrants and asylum seekers.
:::::
A small boat carrying African migrants off the coast of southern Mexico sank on Friday, leaving two people dead and one missing, authorities said.
The boat was travelling off the southern border state of Chiapas when it listed to one side, pitching its occupants into the water, the state prosecutor’s office said in a statement. […]
A search operation „managed to rescue eight migrants alive“, the prosecutor’s office said, adding one person was still missing.
All were from Cameroon, a country that has seen a growing exodus amid an increasingly violent conflict between its French and English-speaking communities.
Chiapas is the main crossroads for migrants crossing Mexico towards the United States. They are mostly Central Americans, but in recent years, there has been an increasing number of Africans, who often fly to South America and then make long treks overland and by boat.
:::::
Migrants seeking asylum in the United States who are camped in a dangerous Mexican border town occupied a bridge to Brownsville, Texas, on Thursday, leading US authorities to close the crossing, witnesses and authorities said.
Hundreds of the migrants have been sleeping for weeks on the end of the bridge in Matamoros, Mexico, a city known for gang violence and for cartels that control human trafficking.
:::::
Nachtrag 13.10.: Gemeinsame Karawane von Migrant*innen aus Afrika, der Karibik und Zentralamerika
A year after a mass caravan departed Honduras, a new group tries to head to US from southern Mexico, but is stopped.
Tuzantan, Mexico – Mexican immigration and security forces cracked down on a caravan of migrants and asylum seekers on Saturday, the eve of the anniversary of the departure of the Honduran collective exodus that captured international attention.
As the United States and Mexico continue to restrict options for migrants and asylum seekers, many have been stuck for months in Tapachula, a city in the southern state of Chiapas, hoping for documentation that permits transit north through Mexico to the US border.
Before dawn on Saturday, more than 1,000 migrants and asylum seekers from various African, Caribbean and Central American countries set out together from Tapachula. Following in the footsteps of past caravans, they planned to spend the first night in Huixtla, 41km (25 miles) north, but their journey was cut short approximately three-quarters of the way there.
Mexican immigration and security forces mounted a major operation on Saturday afternoon to halt the caravan’s advance.