Mexico Locks up Hundreds of Refugees Headed North

Hundreds of immigrants from Africa, the Caribbean and Central America were corralled and detained in southern Mexico on Sunday after a futile attempt to head north as part of a caravan aiming to reach the United States.

The group set out before sunrise Saturday from Tapachula, near the Guatemalan border, where many had been marooned for months trying to get transit visas. They carried heavy backpacks, babies and parcels on their heads.

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The crackdown on the caravan, many of whose members were of African descent, underlined the sharp reversal from Mexico’s immigration policy a year ago, when officials looked the other way as caravans headed toward the United States. But under pressure from Washington, the nominally liberal government of President Andrés López Obrador has been taking a tougher stance in dealing with immigrants, and many Mexicans are being less welcoming.

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About half of the people in the caravan were black, including Haitians, estimated Lacruz, who accompanied the group.

Wilner Metelus, a Mexican activist who was born in Haiti, described the government’s behavior toward Africans and their descendants as “shameful.”

“Today the Afro-descendants are alone,” he said.

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Despite its birth as a mestizo culture under the Spanish conquest, racial prejudice against indigenous and dark-skinned people is rampant in Mexico.

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Emigrants from conflict-wracked African countries set their sights on the Americas after doors began to shut in Europe. A typical journey from Africa involves a flight to Brazil, which has been amenable to granting visas, followed by a long and perilous trip north. The worst patch, many Africans say, is the trek through Panama’s Darien Gap, a dense tropical forest inhabited by venomous snakes and ruthless robbers.

Southern Mexico has become a frustrating way station for thousands of Africans, most of whom would prefer to start anew in the United States or Canada because of language and cultural barriers in Mexico.

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Most of the Haitians arriving at Mexico’s southern border have lived in South America for several years after some nations granted them protected immigration status. Now such policies are less favorable, propelling the Haitians to seek a new home as their country is mired in an intense political crisis. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

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Hundreds of Africans stranded in Tapachula opted against joining the caravan on Saturday and continue to bide their time on the streets.

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