Father Alejandro Solalinde Warns Against Preventing Travel on Mexico's 'Beast' Train Diana Manzo and Elio Henriquez - La Jornada
go to original September 10, 2014

Migrants travel on the roof of "The Beast" from Arriaga, Chiapas, to Ixtepec, Oaxaca, a distance of 300 kilometers (180 miles), a trip taking 12 hours. (hoylosangeles.com)

In recent trips of La Bestia ["The Beast"], the train that goes from Arriaga, Chiapas, to Ixtepec, Oaxaca, the flow of undocumented workers seems to have diminished due to threats by the Secretary of Government Relations, Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong, that migrants would not be allowed to travel atop the train.

In response, Alejandro Solalinde Guerra, priest and activist for the undocumented, said this will cause higher risks for Central Americans, who recently have taken new routes to the border between Mexico and the United States.

He warned that migration continues and will continue, despite the raid on Tuesday in Huixtla, Chiapas, in which personnel of the National Migration Institute (INM) participated and during which hundreds of migrants were detained in order to prevent them from boarding the train on the way to Ixtepec.

The cleric believes that for the federal government what happens to undocumented immigrants is invisible and not worryisome.

Read the rest at Mexico Voices

Mexico Voices is a blogging endeavor aimed at raising the awareness of U.S. citizens regarding the destructive impact of the U.S. economic policy and the War on Drugs on Mexico — on its people, their economic and physical security and their human rights, on the nation’s dysfunctional justice system, and on the rule of law and Mexico’s fragile democracy. Visit the website at MexicoVoices.blogspot.mx.

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