Federal Police in Mexico Extort Migrants More Often Than Any Drug Cartel, Says New Report David Iaconangelo - Latin Times
go to original January 31, 2014

Migrants rest inside an auditorium which is being used as a migrant's shelter in Chahuites, Istmo de Tehuantepec January 8, 2011, before continuing their journey to the United States (Reuters/Jorge Luis Plata)

US-bound migrants heading north through Mexico face no easy road. The cargo trains atop which they often hitch a ride overturn; they’re easy prey for drug cartels who extort, kill or force them into work as mules.

But La Casa del Migrante de Saltillo, a migrant shelter based in the northeastern Mexican state of Coahila, says that an even more common threat for migrants are members of the federal police.

As Animal Politico reported on Thursday, the shelter has released a new report showing that in the second half of 2013, 47 percent of extortions of migrants in Mexico came at the hands of federal police agents.

That’s far above the percentage of extortions – which La Casa defines as having all your money and belongings demanded from you – committed by other groups.

Read the rest at Latin Times

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