Although they were advertised as shelters, the space does not offer food or lodging, it simply facilitates the purchase of bus tickets to CDMX
San Sebastián Tutla.— This Monday night the Migratory Mobility Center formally began operations, installed by the federal and state governments in the vicinity of the city of Oaxaca, with the aim of reducing the number of foreigners in transit and spending the night on the public road.
Although since yesterday morning the government of Oaxaca announced its installation, it was not until this Tuesday that the first bus with migrants left from San Sebastián Tutla – a municipality adjacent to the city of Oaxaca – towards Mexico City, which arrived yesterday Juchitan.
This is the second mobility center that begin operations on Oaxacan soil, given that since Sunday a similar space began to be prepared in that Zapotec city on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, which was converted from an abandoned bus terminal.
After the arrival and departure of the first bus, people in transit assured that this option is a guarantee of safety on their trip, after all the abuse and mistreatment they have suffered since they arrived in the country, both from civilians and public servants of the National Institute of Migration Agency (Inami) in the section from Tapachula, Chiapas, to Juchitán de Zaragoza, Oaxaca.
An official from the Ministry of the Interior (Segob) who did not identify himself explained to EL UNIVERSAL that these mobility centers are not shelters, as reported by the government of Salomón Jara Cruz (Morena), but rather a place where transportation services will be offered to Mexico City, in order to avoid waiting days in a bus terminal instead, they are asked to go to this center and from there board the transport and continue with their trip.
According to migrants consulted by this means, the service is only offered to those from Haiti, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba, due to the opening that has been granted to the United States government, and only if they already had registered in the CPBO application an appointment.
“We as migrants see it as positive, because the government is giving us the privilege of moving without much setback,” said Eustacio Pereira, one of the benefited foreigners in transit.
“It is excellent, and we are very grateful for this opportunity that they are giving us,” adds María Elena, another of the migrants.
This federal and state government service is provided through a private bus company. The cost from Juchitán to Oaxaca City is 500 pesos and from Oaxaca City to Mexico City, 450 pesos.
Despite the benefits, since it is not a shelter, even though the governor announced it, they are not offered food or water, only public bathroom service.
However, people in transit insist that it is a great benefit because it allows them to continue their trip at least to the country’s capital without so many “setbacks” and abuses that they have suffered since arriving in Mexico.
“It guarantees that we can move safely, because we did have certain setbacks with many people who took us to a certain route and charged us more money. Since we don’t know the place, we don’t know if it’s true or if it’s a lie, we pay for it.”. They always told us that the migra was involved and when we arrived, it was a lie, the Mexicans themselves told us that it was a lie, that there was no migra there.
“In short, they tricked us as little ones, and we paid large sums of money up to 500 pesos and 250 pesos for a motorcycle, for taking us 10 to 15 minutes to travel. We lost all the budget we brought, mostly between Tapachula and Juchitán,” says Eustacio Pereira.
Added to this is that after paying their ticket of 1,200 pesos in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, INM personnel forced them to get off the bus although children and women were traveling, some of them sick, when they had not even been on it for 10 minutes, making them to continue their journey on foot.
“The journey has been quite tough, the treatment they have given us is not very good. We have spent too much money, they don’t let us travel on the buses, we have to walk through the migrations, everything is extremely expensive, the abuse,” says María Elena, originally from Caracas, Venezuela, a country where she worked as a nurse at the University Hospital. The woman narrates that the salary she received monthly would not even be enough for her tickets.
Like Eustacio Pereira, professor and lawyer, he affirms that in Venezuela at least 500 to 600 dollars are needed to buy the basic food basket. Eustacio, as a teacher, earned between 15 and 20 dollars a month, which has caused many teachers to desert.
“I never thought I would be a migrant, I have lived the experience, I have seen how human beings are treated, how they are mistreated, by the human being themselves,” says Eustacio Pereira.
“They told us that the Darién jungle was a jungle, a monstrous jungle, I went through the jungle, I crossed it from Colombia to Panama, and I tell you that in reality the jungle is a garden to cross. But in the concrete jungle, from Panama to here, it has been very different from what we know, the jungle is actually not as aggressive as the concrete jungle,” he points out.
According to the state government, Oaxaca is experiencing a strong increase in the migratory flow, especially in the city of Oaxaca de Juárez, since so far this year 169,378 migrants have been “rescued.” While in the month of August alone, 31,673 rescues were carried out, more than double that of 2021 when 13,810 people were rescued.
Given this situation, just on September 14, the Oaxaca Human Rights Ombudsman (DDHPO) issued precautionary measures to the government of Salomón Jara (Morena), so that it could provide humanitarian aid to foreigners in transit, considering that they are your responsibility while crossing state territory.
Source: El Universal
