Unfortunate Plight of Cuban Migrants in Mexico Reported

Unfortunate Plight of Cuban Migrants in Mexico Reported

MEXICO CITY – Some 250 Cubans have been detained in difficult, dubious
conditions at the Tapachula migrant station in southeastern Mexico
awaiting judgment on their legal status, the independent National Human
Rights Commission, or CNDH, said.

The commission, Mexico's equivalent of an ombud's office, said Friday in
a note that during the last two months it has seen an increase in the
number of Cuban immigrants lodged at migrant stations of the National
Migration Institute, or INM, particularly in Tapachula, Chiapas state.

He said that on May 8 some 248 Cuban migrants were found at that
station, of whom 169 were men, 74 women, two little girls and three boys.

The document said that CNDH personnel had made several visits to the
station, where they received complaints from the Cubans about deficient
medical care, overcrowding and lack of information about their legal status.

The visitors from the commission inspected the Cuban migrants'
dormitories in the men's facility, "where they observed overcrowding and
a prevalent lack of beds or mats to sleep on, plus a number of people
suffering respiratory ailments."

Some Cubans also complained that INM personnel discriminated against
some of them because of their sexual orientation.

According to the commission, personnel of the autonomous organization
said that, during a visit on May 9, the Cubans tried to attract
attention by banging plastic bottles, shouting "Freedom!" and
complaining they hadn't eaten. The situation was remedied over the next
few hours and the ruckus subsided.

For their part, INM officials told Efe that the Cubans are being held at
the station in the extreme southeast of Mexico on the Guatemalan border
until the procedures are completed that are required by the 2008
migration agreement between the two countries.

The memorandum of accord says that Cuba will accept the return of its
citizens who have entered Mexico illegally or have an irregular
immigration status inside Mexican territory "with the exception of those
authorized to travel to the United States."

Cuba also agrees to accept the return of its citizens "who have
emigrated directly and illegally to countries of Central America and are
in Mexican territory illegally, provided they are found within a space
(of 90 days) counted from their departure" from the Caribbean island.

INM officials said that the Cubans, 30 of whom were taken on Friday to
the migrant station in Acayucan, Veracruz state, had no wish to remain
in Mexico and were awaiting word from the Cuban Consulate about who
among them will be accepted back.

They added that meanwhile the migrants are being fed and cared for at
the migration center, and denied stories in the press about the Cubans
being on a hunger strike.

For his part, Cuban Deputy Consul Wilson Bolaños said that Consul Maria
Sanchez met the day before with the head of the INM, Salvador Beltran,
"and at no time did they speak of a hunger strike, only that there were
250 Cubans lodged at the Tapachula station."

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