MEXICO, THE U.S. OF THE SOUTH?
El Financiero (Mexico)
27 September 1999 p.5

by Tom Dieusaert

As opposed to the much-debated abuses reported on the U.S.-Mexico border, Mexico's interest in its southern border ends with the last rebel Zapatista village. But the situation at the southern border is actually quite similar to the northern border. Except that in this case, the Mexicans are the bad guys.

Streams of illegal immigrants, smugglers (polleros or coyotes), round-ups by Mexican immigration agents and human rights abuses. ...Mexico's southern border is not so different from the northern border. Indeed, in the eyes of many Central Americans, Mexico is not only the first world with more possibilities, it's also the transit zone to the United States. "Central Americans need a visa to enter Mexico, which is quite complicated to obtain. So many opt for entering Mexico illegally, by any means," says Adhemar Barilli, a Brazilian priest who runs the Casa del Migrante at the Mexican border in Tecún Umán, Guatemala "The Central Americans go north by fishing boat along the coast, sealed banana truck or by jumping on the freight train. Others bribe their way to the north, paying Mexican immigration officers in airports or bus terminals," he said.

The National Immigration Institute (INM) has at least six fixed checkpoints on the Chiapas coastal highway, (Huixtla, Echegaray, Arriaga, Tonala, La Ventosa and Matías Romero) checking all cars and buses for illegal immigrants. "When immigrants are caught they are detained in INM detention centers, until we have enough people, 30 or so, to fill a bus and take them back to the Guatemalan border," says José Rodolfo Muñoz, INM commander in Tapachula.

The INM detention centers are quite infamous among immigrants and human rights organizations. "The immigrants spend up to 24 hours in detention centers, without any food, a glass of water at the most. They get frisked by immigration officers who in most cases steal their money," says Barilli. According to Barilli, of the 5,000 immigrants that visited the Casa del Migrante this year, one-third denounced human rights abuses perpetrated by Mexican authorities: Illegal detention, cruel treatment, theft, rape and abuse of power are the most cited charges. Last May, Tapachula-based INM agents denounced their own chief Muñoz for "violating the migrants rights."

The INM reportedly charged fictitious fines to arrested migrants, before releasing them and for giving the inmates "barely a glass of water." "Besides human rights abuses in individual cases, there is clear government policy of sealing off the border," says Fabienne Venet of Mexico City-based Without Borders. "Tougher control drives people to more inaccessible areas, endangering their lives. The number of drowned people has gone up dramatically.

Interior Minister Dater Carrasco has mentioned it in recent speeches, supposedly because the government wants to crack down on drug and arms smuggling. On one hand, the INM is showing a more humane face, with the creation of the immigrant assistant group Beta, but on the other hand we see other police forces becoming more involved in immigration tasks and subsequent human rights abuses.

The INM made an agreement with the Attorney General's Office that other police forces can assist immigration officers. This is not illegal, only that in reality it turns out that these police forces act at will. In August we discovered an extortion ring in Tenosique [Tabasco], where a local police officer founded his own private mounted police force. They were harassing immigrants and extorting money."

The dismal situation at the southern border has recently been recognized by National Human Rights Commissioner Mireille Roccatti, who said that "the situation at the southern border should worry us as much as the northern border."