Migrants Shelter Remembered on the Anniversary of San Fernando Massacre Vanessa Guzman - teleSUR
go to original September 1, 2016

A different image of migrants is spreading across Mexico. A new grassroots public awareness campaign is seeking to break prejudice against migrants, and it has been designed by themselves. (teleSUR English)

In late August of 2010, more than 70 migrants from Central and South America left Veracruz with coyotes to continue their perilous journey north with aspirations of reaching the United States. Between August 22 and 23, 2010 they were kidnapped by Los Zetas cartel while traveling on two buses in the northern state of Tamaulipas. On Aug. 24, 72 migrants were found lifeless by the Mexican military in a ranch in the municipality of San Fernando, with their hands tied behind their backs and gunshot injuries.

The 58 men and 14 women who lost their lives are emblematic of the extreme precariousness that has come to characterize migrants’ trajectories through Mexico. The complicity of Mexican authorities with drug cartels, the lack of protection for the human rights of migrants, the exponential increase in border enforcement, and restrictive immigration policies in the United States and Mexico all contribute to the violence that migrants contend with.

Amidst the brutality and xenophobia on behalf of authorities and organized crime alike, spaces of resistance, solidarity and hope have flourished in Mexico. Indeed, the indignation of the San Fernando massacre and the increase in migration flows from Central America inspired Franciscans near the Guatemala-Mexico border to open a migrant shelter. In the jungle-clad and impoverished city of Tenosique, Tabasco Friar Tomas Gonzales has led La 72 Hogar-Refugio Para Personas Migrantes, or The 72 Home-Refuge for Migrants since April of 2011.

The migrant shelter is strategically located in Tabasco, 86 miles from El Ceibo, the Mexico-Guatemala border crossing. Situated near the train, commonly referred to as “The Beast”, The 72 is on a primary migration corridor for migrants fleeing El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. This region, known as the Northern Triangle, is considered one of the most violent in the world due to a combination of factors including the region’s geographical location which provides an important transshipment point for narcotics heading from the Andes to the United States, high rates of corruption and the proliferation of gangs.

Read the rest at teleSUR

Related: Refugee Displacement, an 'Invisible' CentAm Problem Requiring More Attention (Latin American Herald Tribune)

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