Police assist Cuban migrants abandoned at a hotel in central Mexico

Mexican police assisted Cuban and Ecuadorian migrants after being abandoned by a human trafficker in the state of Puebla, in the center of the Aztec nation.

The “coyote” left the undocumented immigrants at a hotel, after promising them that he would take them to the southern border of the United States, where they intended to apply for asylum. The group was composed of two women, three men, and a six-year-old child, reported the local newspaper El Pleno Noticias.

The Antilleans and South Americans were transferred to the Victim Assistance area of the Secretariat of Citizen Security and the municipal police, where they were provided with medical attention and, naturally, were detained.

“The individuals are being assessed by the Civil Protection paramedics at the Rancho Colorado facilities, to later be transferred to the National Migration Institute, Puebla Delegation,” the press media reported based on an official statement.

This case adds to the situation of thousands of undocumented migrants crossing Mexican territory in the hope of reaching the USA. Despite the dangers posed by illegal journeys, both maritime and overland, inhabitants of the Greater Antilles prefer to risk their lives rather than continue to endure chaos and misery, which worsen over time.

The incident happened days after a group of 31 migrants, including several Cubans, was kidnapped in the northern Mexican state of Tamaulipas, while they were traveling by bus towards the southern border of the USA, according to a report by the Reuters agency.

The bus was carrying individuals from Venezuela, Ecuador, Cuba, Colombia, and Honduras, and was surprised while moving on the highway that connects the cities of Reynosa and Matamoros.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador clarified that the kidnapped migrants, since last December 30, were released by their captors and not “rescued” as had been previously reported.

The president revealed in his usual morning press conference that these migrants had been deprived of freedom, and then their relatives living in the USA were extorted.

Before the end of the year, López Obrador confirmed that Mexico is experiencing a flow of undocumented migrants from the Island “beyond normal,” which has generated tension at the border with the USA.

Cubans were the third nationality to file the most asylum applications with the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance (COMAR) during 2023, only surpassed by Haitians and Hondurans. Records indicate that a figure exceeding 18,000 people from the Island requested protection.