Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Mexico—Around 2,000 US-bound migrants in southern Mexico set off in a caravan on a Holy Week march to denounce what they called the “cruelty” of immigration policies.
The event, called the “Via Crucis of the Migrant,” has been held each year since 2010 in the state of Chiapas.
The procession carried a banner that read: “Murderers of poor migrants” as well as a large wooden cross.
“Migrants continue to suffer the ordeal that Jesus suffered,” said Heyman Vazquez, a priest who led the march.
Migrants were victims of robbery, kidnapping and extortion by criminals and authorities, who often force them to get off the buses to make their long journey on foot, he told the media.
“It seems that it is a sadistic government that enjoys the suffering of others. It enjoys that migrants suffer fatigue, the sun, the rain. It is something that we do not understand, but society cannot get used to human suffering,” Vazquez added.
Thousands of migrants are waiting in Chiapas for permits allowing them to transit through Mexico, and they often organize marches and other demonstrations to try to speed up the process.
Many thousands of migrants fleeing violence and poverty cross Mexico every year heading for the US border.
The rising numbers have overwhelmed Mexican immigration facilities and shelters, and put the government under increased pressure from the United States to tackle the issue in an election year.