Activist leading 3,000-migrant caravan toward U.S. has lips sown shut to protest Mexican government
Moment when activist leading caravan of 3,000 migrants slashed lips to protest the Mexican government’s slow response to providing documents enabling migrants to reach the US border
- Activist Irineo Mújica and 6 migrants had their lips sewn in Mexico on Tuesday
- The decision to do so was made to protest the Mexican government’s delay in issuing permits that would allow migrants to move freely in the country.
- Made up of 3,000 migrants from Latin America and Asia, the group has been traveling on foot since Sunday and expects to reach Mexico City next Tuesday
An immigration activist and six migrants had their lips sewn shut in an attempt to pressure the Mexican government to provide documents that would allow migrants to travel freely to the United States border.
Irineo Mújica, an activist with dual citizenship of Mexico and the United States, was joined by migrants from Colombia, Brazil, Cuba, Honduras, El Salvador and Venezuela in Huixtla, Chiapas, on Tuesday.
The group of 3,000 migrants is making its way from Mexico to the southern border of the US.
The decision to sew their lips shut was also taken to show support for the families of the 40 migrants who died on March 27 at a National Institute of Migration detention center in the northern border city of Ciudad Juárez.
Mújica, who founded the activist group Pueblos Sin Fronteras, had previously called on the government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to bring Francisco Garduño, director of the National Institute of Migration, to justice for the migrant deaths.
Immigration activist Irineo Mújica sewed his lips shut to pressure the Mexican government to provide legal documents to migrants that would allow them to travel freely around the country
At least 3,000 migrants from Central and South America and Asia have joined a caravan traveling to Mexico City
A migrant had his lips sewn during a protest in Mexico on Tuesday
“A state crime should not go unnoticed, Mexico does not represent this violence against 40 migrants,” Mújica told EFE.
Anderson Ordoñez, one of 3,000 migrants who joined the caravan traveling to Mexico City and the country’s northern border with the United States, was one of six migrants to have their lips sewn by a nurse from the Dominican Republic. Republic, which intends to seek asylum. from the US
“There are people who went to the United States by train, we don’t want to risk our lives,” said Ordoñez, who left Colombia a month and a half ago and has traveled through seven countries.
“We want them to help us,” he said of the Mexican government. “We bring our documentation, we are not criminals, we are people who want a good future for ourselves and our children.”
A migrant sews his own mouth to protest the Mexican government’s slow response to granting migrants permits that allow them to travel freely
Children and adults who joined the 3,000 migrant caravan rest in Huixtla, Chiapas, before continuing their journey to Mexico City
A migrant family travels on a road in Huixtla, Chiapas, with other members who are part of the caravan of 3,000 who plan to seek asylum from the United States
Brazilian citizen Paulo Henrique said there was growing concern for the safety of women and children who joined the caravan in the Chiapas town of Tapachula on Sunday, walking nearly 26 miles in three days.
“We are willing to do whatever it takes to get us a visa and we can move forward, it’s a form of dialogue with the Mexican government,” Henrique said.
The migrant caravan expects to complete the 1,200-kilometer journey to Mexico City on May 3.
While some are expected to remain in the Mexican capital, many will continue their journey north, posing a challenge to President Joe Biden’s administration as it plans how to deal with the likely arrival of tens of thousands of additional migrants in the region. US-Mexico. border after the expected end of COVID-19 restrictions next month.