What does Mexico’s agreement with countries like Colombia consist of to stop the migratory wave?

Migrants from Venezuela, Ecuador and Colombia, who are part of a via crucis that transits from southern Mexico to the capital, They rejected this Wednesday, March 27, 2024, wanting to return to their countries and receive the $110 per month offered by the Mexican Government as part of a strategy to stop migration.

“With all due respect to the President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and to the distinguished authorities, I would like to know how much 110 dollars means”said Francelí, an Ecuadorian migrant who, along with some 3,000 undocumented immigrants, has been advancing in the caravan since last Monday.

The undocumented immigrant explained that it is more important that they be helped in this migrant via crucis to avoid the dangers they go through during the hours of the journey and in their passage through the towns, since those 110 dollars of support, he noted, are “a humiliation.”

“It doesn’t help us, with this mistreatment and better, no. (Why) don’t you give us a permit? We don’t want it paid, but we want it to be paid for at any cost.“, said.

He assured that returning to Ecuador is not an option for him or for other colleagues from Honduras, Guatemala, Salvador, Colombia and Venezuela.

Francelí recognized the programs for migrants that the United States is granting while reproaching the attitude that Mexico is taking in returning those who are on the northern border to the south of the country.

A Colombian migrant, who did not give his name, said that he does not agree with the support of the Mexican Government either and asserted that all they want is to be allowed to work and move forward to reach their destination.

“That (the $110) is not enough at all. In Colombia, he earned the minimum wage, which is 1,100,000 (Colombian pesos, about 286 dollars). (President Gustavo) Petro raised (the price of) everything, sugar, the basic basket, that’s why we left there,” he said.

Yeison Viña Mil, a migrant from Venezuela who lived in Colombia for five years, said that it is regrettable that the Colombian Government has signed this agreement, because the poorest people should have been taken into account, such as, for example, the people of the neighborhood. and from the field.

He pointed out that in Colombia $110 is enough to buy, at most, a pound of meat, a chicken and a pound of rice.

“Because there in Colombia, even to breathe you have to pay, If you undestand me? The rent (housing income) is through the roof, the services (are) too expensive,” she asserted.

For this reason, he asked López Obrador to make a contract with the president of the United States, Joe Biden, so that they can enter that country, “because there they earn more and the dollar is above everything.”

Lizbeth Durán, from Venezuela, said that with 110 dollars you cannot live in Venezuela, because things are too expensive and she would only return to her country if Nicolás Maduro left the presidency.

“110 dollars would not be enough for us, instead of returning it to us, for (Mexico) to support us and not support the Government of Venezuela, because we are living in communism,” he lamented.

The group of undocumented immigrants advances while tension grows due to the presidential elections in the United States and Mexico, where irregular migration detected by the Mexican Government increased by 77% in 2023 to exceed 782,000 people.

The agreement of the Government of Mexico contemplates an economic stimulus of 110 dollars for 6 months and employment opportunities. Although said country said that it has already been signed, the Colombian Foreign Ministry indicated that it is an issue under evaluation.