The Assembly of African Migrants — a confederation of about 3,000 people from various African countries currently in Tapachula, Mexico — launched in the past week, according to La Jornada, citing assembly leaders. The group issued its first press release Thursday, describing its origins, how members have suffered since entering Mexico, and their demands.
“We, the people of African origin, forced to remain in Tapachula, suffer an unbearable humanitarian situation related to nurture, housing, health and hygiene; as well as systematic discrimination by immigration authorities,” the press release began. “Since we left our countries, for us life has been a permanent escape. We feel despair, hopelessness, fear, demoralization, loneliness and abandonment.”
The Assembly of African Migrants is made up of illegal immigrants who traveled from the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola, Cameroon, and other African countries. They said they left their countries, traveled across South and Central America, but have remained detained in Tapachula, a city on Mexico’s southern border near Guatemala.
Thanks in large part to pressure from the Trump administration, the Mexican government has dramatically stepped up enforcement against illegal immigration. While the majority of illegal migrants traveling through Mexico are Central Americans, thousands of African migrants have also found themselves stuck near Tapachula’s federal immigration office.
But the same question keeps popping up every time I read about this: who owns the fleet which is bringing these Africans across the Atlantic Ocean?
I’d guess that it’s the same entities who got them organized into an “Assembly,” wrote their press release, told them to march, and supplied them with the lovely Spanish-language signs. (Several possible culprits are listed here. Spanish language.)