Migrants sew their mouths shut in quest for Mexico passage to U.S.
border
Send a link to a friend
[February 16, 2022]
By Jose Torres
TAPACHULA, Mexico (Reuters) -A dozen
undocumented migrants on Mexico's southern border sewed their mouths
shut on Tuesday in a bid to convince the country's immigration authority
to grant them passage toward the U.S. border.
The migrants, mostly Central and South Americans, helped each other seal
their lips using needles and plastic threads, leaving a small space to
consume liquids and using alcohol to wipe away drops of blood from the
stitches, Reuters images show.
"The migrants are sewing their lips together as a sign of protest," said
Irineo Mujica, an activist at the demonstration. "We hope that the
National Migration Institute can see that they are bleeding, that they
are human beings."
Mexico's migration agency (INM) said in a public statement that "it is
worrying that these measures have been carried out with the consent and
support of those who call themselves their representatives, with the
intention of pressuring authorities on an attention already provided."
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Feb/16/images/ads/current/charrons_bch_2022.png)
Some were carrying their children when they staged the dramatic protest
in Tapachula, a border city with Guatemala, which for months has been
filled with thousands of migrants waiting for papers to be able to
freely cross the country.
"I'm doing it for my daughter," said Yorgelis Rivera, a Venezuelan. "She
has not eaten anything in the last few hours and I see no solution ...
from the authorities."
[to top of second column]
|
![](../images/021622pics/news_u39.jpg)
A migrant begins a hunger strike with her mouth sewed shut during a
protest to demand free transit through the country outside the
office of the National Migration Institute (INM) in Tapachula,
Mexico February 15, 2022. REUTERS/Jose Torres
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Feb/16/images/ads/current/debbiesfloral_lda_021022.png)
"We are like prisoners here," Rivera said, adding she has been waiting
for a response from Mexico's migration agency for more than a month.
The agency said it continues to attend cases, adding priority is has
been given to those who make up vulnerable groups, such as children,
adolescents, pregnant women, victims of crime, people with disabilities
and the elderly.
The institution said it receives more than a hundred applicants at their
offices in the southern city every day.
In recent years, the number of migrants arriving in Mexico fleeing
violence and poverty has jumped. In 2021, Mexico recorded an 87%
increase in the number of asylum applications, mainly from Haitians and
Hondurans.
The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) recently said Mexico should
consider new aid programs amid a surge in the arrival of foreigners,
many of them Venezuelans, for whom Mexico now requires a visa.
(Reporting by Jose Torres; Writing by Lizbeth Diaz and Valentine Hilaire;
Editing by Sandra Maler and Lincoln Feast.)
[© 2022 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |