Monday,
November 9, 2009
Church-Run Migrant Shelter in Northern Mexico Besieged
Frontera NorteSur
A Catholic
Church-run migrant shelter in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila is the target of escalating attacks. Every day, Casa
del Migrante Posada Belen in the state capital of Saltillo serves between 80 to 100 mainly Central American migrants headed
to the United States. But since last month, the staff has been busy responding to aggression, harassment and death threats.
Father
Pedro Pantoja Arreola, shelter coordinator, reported that threats against his person reached a fever pitch one evening last
week when he received 50 anonymous telephone calls in the space of several hours. According to Pantoja, he could hear no words
spoken on the other end of the line – only breathing.
Earlier, on October 11, a shelter worker observed a group
of about 12 people destroying an electricity meter and cutting off power. Later, on October 25, a group of unidentified persons
broke windows and destroyed an electrical transformer, again shutting off power to the building. The vandals reportedly shouted
insults at the occupants inside and warned them to leave the premises. On October 28, yet another group attempted to forcibly
enter the shelter, according to a letter from a network of 40 Mexican human rights organizations directed to high Mexican
officials.
In the wake of the attacks, Saltillo Bishop Raul Vera accused the local National Action Party (PAN) of creating
a climate of hostility around the presence of migrants. In particular, Bishop Vera singled out PAN state legislator Carlos
Orta for allegedly orchestrating a "campaign of xenophobia" against Central American migrants.
Supported by other state
lawmakers, Orta is pushing a legislative initiative that urges the Mexican Congress to modify immigration legislation and
give Mexico's Interior Ministry, an agency responsible for domestic security, authority to regulate church-run shelters. Orta
spearheaded the initiative after a Honduran immigrant was accused of killing a local businesswoman on September 30.
In
his preamble to the proposed legislation, Orta made reference to the "brutal murder of a citizen at the hands of a foreigner."
The PAN representative said the "eternal conflict" between victims and criminals was evidenced by the September 30 slaying
of the Saltillo merchant. According to Orta, migrant shelters should toe the line with National Migration Institute (INM)
rules and regulations governing the presence of foreigners in Mexico.
"It's regrettable and condemnable that someone
who should be taking advantage of his position to do good is instead committing injustices," Bishop Vera said of Orta. "We
citizens don't pay (politicians) high salaries for this."
Stretching from Chiapas to Chihuahua, church-sponsored migrant
centers provide food, medical attention and shelter to thousands of Central Americans traveling to the United States. On the
border, the facilities also give assistance to undocumented migrants deported from the US.
Despite the recession and
tougher US border controls, the shelters continue welcoming large numbers of people from both directions.
Jesus Gerardo
Lopez Macias, Saltillo INM delegate, said many Latin Americans, especially adolescents, keep making their way north. In Ciudad
Juarez, the Casa del Migrante reported receiving 6,000 deportees through October 31 of this year – a sharp increase
over 2008 when the shelter assisted 3,500 migrants for the entire year.
In the Saltillo region, tensions and troubles
have accompanied the migrant surge in recent years. In 2002, two Honduran migrants, Delmer Alexander Pacheco and a man known
only as Jose David, were murdered near train tracks. According to the INM'S Lopez, young migrants face ongoing dangers from
sexual exploitation and human trafficking.
As in other regions of Mexico, organized bands of traffickers have increasingly
attempted to channel the migrant stream in Coahuila under their control.
In response to the incidents at Casa del Migrante
Posada Belen, the Migration Forum network as well as Amnesty International issued statements condemning the attacks and demanding
urgent actions by Mexican authorities to safeguard the shelter and its staff.
Until now, protective measures recommended
by the National Human Rights Commission, which were accepted by the federal Public Security Ministry, have not been effective
in eliminating threats to the shelter, the Migration Forum charged.
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Sources:
La Jornada, November 3, 4 and 6, 2009. Articles by Leopoldo Ramos and Emir Olivares Alonso. Zocalo.com.mx, October 27 and
November 6, 2009. Articles by Paola A. Praga and El Universal news service. Norte, November 3, 2009. Article by Claudia Ivonne
Sanchez.
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Frontera NorteSur (FNS)
Center for Latin American and Border Studies
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, New Mexico
Reprinted
with authorization from Frontera NorteSur, a free, on-line, U.S.-Mexico border news source; translation FNS
