OHCHR | Migration nightmare for an indigenous woman in Mexico

15.8.18

OHCHR | Migration nightmare for an indigenous woman in Mexico // OHCHR | Migration nightmare for an indigenous woman in Mexico - Santizo, an indigenous Chuj woman from Guatemala, left her hometown in August 2014 in the hope of reaching the United States. A migrant smuggler, also known as a coyote or pollero, had already laid out a plan for her:she wouldcross the Mexican border with Guatemala and get to the northern Mexican city of Reynosa, in the state of Tamaulipas, near the United States border.

Along the way, Santizo, who could not communicate with others in her group because she did not speak Spanish, could not tell where she was. The coyote reassured her by saying they were close to entering the United States.

Every year, thousands of migrants from Central America cross the length of Mexico’s territory to flee from violence, disappearances, executions, torture, poverty and gang-forced recruitment. Many of them are asylum seekers and migrants in transit trying to reach the United States in search of better life opportunities.