Convoy of Migrants Reaches Mexico City with Complaints
Around 200 participants traveling in a protest convoy of Central American migrants arrived in Mexico City on Saturday and commenced to file abuse complaints with the government's National Human Rights Commission.
As reported by The Associated Press article, the National Human Rights Commission said in a statement that an ombudsman had met with representatives of the protest. The protesting group turned in a total of 139 complaints that charged violations against migrants at the hands of Mexican federal police as well as immigration officers.
Reverend Alejandro Solalinde, a man who runs a shelter for migrants in southern Mexico, accompanied the protesters on their trek. Alejandro Solalinde, a noted human rights champion as well as the coordinator of the South Pacific Human Mobility Ministry of the Mexican Bishopric, accused federal agents of committing various violations of human rights against the migrants.
The advocate for migrant rights called for an investigation into the events that occurred at a road checkpoint in the southern state of Oaxaca, where he asserted that officers had attempted to prevent the protest convoy from heading to Mexico’s Capital.
Earlier in the week the country’s immigration agency had made a point of saying that it respected the rights of migrants.
The planned protest trip was a little off schedule as the convoy of migrants left Oaxaca this week, which was later than they had originally wanted to go. They had planned on going around Easter, as an annual protest around that time called a "Viacrucis" has become a tradition as of late.
The convoy of migrants relied heavily upon religious imagery. When they reached Mexico City the migrants carried wooden crosses to protest their suffering at the hands of criminals and corrupt police of the nation. Outside of invoking a sense of religious drama with their protest props, the migrants also attended a Mass at the Basilica of Guadalupe.
Subscribe to Latin Post!
Sign up for our free newsletter for the Latest coverage!
* This is a contributed article and this content does not necessarily represent the views of latinpost.com