Despite the presidential promise to end corruption, extortion and bribes against the more than 3 million countrymen who returned to Mexico from the United States to spend During the December festivities, this type of practice persists, costing each countryman or family that returns an average of 1,500 dollars, that is, about 30,000 pesos.
In other words, an outpouring of “mordidas” and extortion for the new federal officials of the Fourth Transformation, but also for states, municipalities and even for organized crime of around 4.5 billion dollars, only in this month of December.
The nearly 3 million compatriots from the US who returned or will return to Mexico by road to spend the end of the year holidays are facing an upsurge in violence, the collection of housing or safe-conduct by crime , as well as extortion or bribes from immigration agents, customs, state and municipal police, and even the military, which translate into an expense of between 200 and 500 dollars per vehicle, which depends on luck or the checkpoint to enter the country.
Leaders of organizations of Mexicans in the United States pointed out that after almost three years without coming to Mexico they find themselves in a country with an increase in homicides, insecurity, violence and kidnappings, for which reason returning to their places of origin is already considered “tourism”. high-risk”.
“The assault on a caravan of six vehicles of civilians on Friday, December 16 and Saturday, December 17 on a highway in Zacatecas shows the insecurity and violence in Mexico and that false discourse that we are living heroes is a sign of impunity, that The National Guard does not fight crime and that in Mexico criminals are taken care of more, with hugs and not bullets, than we Mexicans who subsidize the economy with billions of dollars, more than what Pemex contributes,” said Carlos Arango, leader of the National Front of Immigrants.
He explained that this year, after almost three years of pandemic, the number of countrymen who are returning to Mexico loaded with gifts, dollars for their families, has increased, which means a “juicy booty”, not only for tax agents, customs, Immigration, the National Guard but also for organized crime, cartels and common crime.
“What happened in Zacatecas is not an isolated event, it just happened nationally because there were several families who had their trucks, their money, their savings from years of work taken away. The Héroes Paisanos program is a farce. Arriving in Mexico by land is a sentence that they will be assaulted by criminals or extorted by federal, state or municipal authorities, ”he said by telephone from Chicago.
On social networks such as Facebook, caravans of migrants who returned in the last three weeks and who are choosing to enter through the Piedras Negras, Coahuila checkpoint, given the increase in assaults and extortion in Tamaulipas and Nuevo León, reported dozens of cases of assaults. , extortion, organized crime checkpoints, forklifts, and punchchallantas tire spikes on their way, from various borders to states such as Michoacán, Zacatecas, Hidalgo, Aguascalientes, San Luis Potosí, Jalisco, and Morelos, among others.
For its part, an analysis by the Hñahñu Supreme Council, which brings together migrants and indigenous professionals, stated that the number of countrymen returning this year, according to the National Migration Institute itself, will be between 1.5 and 3 million, who not only They face crime on the highways, but also extortion and paying bribes at airports and customs.
“The first obstacle they have to overcome is with the SAT customs agents, who collect taxes on the gifts we bring. They ask us for money so as not to lower all our suitcases,” said the leader of that organization, Anayelí Mejía Reséndiz.
30 years after the so-called “Paisano Program” was established and despite the fact that President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has described Mexicans who work and live in the United States as “living heroes”, in the current government not only customs agents, Immigration, federal, state and municipal police extort countrymen, but also organized crime, to the complacency of the federal government.
According to complaints on social networks and from Mexicans residing in the United States, members of the so-called Northeast Cartel (CDN) this December are charging up to $1,500 of “fee” or “toll” to countrymen who cross in their vehicles from the United States to Mexico.
It is noted that in the municipality of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, is where the members of the Northeast Cartel, aboard trucks with armed individuals and supported by “hawks” are hunting the countrymen to threaten and extort them.
“We have to receive them with great affection, with great affection; take care of them, protect them and we are going to make this support plan known to our countrymen who visit their relatives”, paradoxically expressed President López Obrador on November 27 when presenting the 2019 Countryman Program, which foresees the arrival in Mexico of 3 million 800 thousand compatriots from the United States and Canada.
More data on high-risk tourism faced by Mexicans who dare to return to Mexico in December. The Monclova National Chamber of Commerce denounced this week that the Preventive Police of the municipality of Castaños extort countrymen who return to Mexico for the holidays, and ask them for up to 100 dollars to let them pass.
Even the federal deputy for Morena, Julieta Kristal Vences, recognized that robbery, extortion and kidnapping persist as the main crimes of which compatriots who return to their place of origin at some point in the national territory are victims, to pass the end of the year holidays, for which he urged to improve the Paisano Program and safety on national highways.
In turn, the state leader of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) in Durango, Miguel Ángel Lazalde Ramos, stressed that the Paisano Program is a “dead letter” in the face of the constant extortion by authorities of the three levels of government of compatriots who They return to Mexico.
“Our countrymen have to take care of themselves, but from the authorities. There is a survey that shows that 80 percent of the countrymen suffer from extortion at customs, on the highways, in each municipality and each city that they pass through until they reach their destination, since those responsible for the security of the three orders of Government ask them for their “little boy”, in such a way that the countrymen spend up to a thousand dollars to pay extortions,” he said.
Víctor Manuel Osornio, technical secretary of the Nuevo León Security Board, exposed a new “modus operandi” to extort countrymen in that state. Returning compatriots are held responsible for having caused a crash and are presented with a wrecked car. They threaten them with going to the authorities and in the end they extort amounts ranging from $1,000 to $1,500. In the current Christmas season, more than 10 cases have been reported.
“The “hunting” season for civilians began in November. When arriving in Mexico, Customs, SAT and Federal Police officials are the first to receive their “aguinaldo”, this by demanding documents, gift receipts, even if they are used or invent any pretext. The Paisano Program has been worth mothers,” Armando Iñiguez, a migrant from Jalisco, who traveled from Houston to La Barca, Jalisco, told The Exodus.
He commented that no one responded to his complaints in Nuevo Laredo, where he had to pay more than $700 in bribes to Customs agents. Plus another 300 dollars to the feds and on the road to Monterrey. “From mordida to mordida I spent more than 1,600 dollars, to state and municipal police and even Immigration agents.”
