Mexico City Daily is reporting that some 4,000 migrants from Haiti, the poorest country in the western hemisphere, have crossed into the country this week via the southern border — which is supposed to be closed to non-essential traffic.
The massive influx of migrants has left the city of Tapachula, in Chiapas state, without any shelters left, forcing people to sleep on the streets. One program that provides assistance to migrants says that more than 11,000 — Haitians and many nationals of African countries — have been stranded in Tapachula since August last year.
“They’re waiting to be given asylum or refuge. They’re looking to stay in Mexico, but there is a delay in giving them a response and it’s causing a humanitarian crisis in Tapachula,” Jesús Cruz Buenrostro said.
Since Monday, numerous groups of up to 60 Haitians have reached the southern border town of Ciudad Hidalgo after crossing the Suchiate River on rafts from Tecún Umán in Guatemala.
The migrants apply for humanitarian visas at the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance (Comar) with the hope that they will be able to stay in Mexico legally and access economic help from UNHCR, the United Nations refugee agency.
However, there are so many migrants, Haitians, and many nationals of African countries, that have been stranded in the city since August of last year that newcomers don’t have much left to choose from. The shelters are full, and what jobs that were available are all taken.
Haiti’s political instability
The political instability in Haiti has reached a fever pitch in recent weeks after the opposition party’s calls for the president to step down failed, according to BuzzFeed News. And many Haitians are leaving the country because of the ongoing violence related to economic security, housing shortages, and a lack of access to healthcare, water, and food.
In a State Department travel advisory from August 2020, the agency recommended not traveling to Haiti due to “crime, civil unrest, kidnapping, and COVID-19.” The bad part of all this is that the situation in Haiti gas continued to deteriorate.
The Haitian economy has been battered by multiple shocks since mid-2018. Even before COVID-19 hit, the economy was facing significant fiscal imbalances. And according to the World Bank, Haiti remains the poorest country in the Latin America and Caribbean region and among the poorest countries in the world.
