The Chiapas government includes them in the “junk and vector removal” program.
14ymedio, Ángel Salinas, Mexico City, 13 March 2025 — The state of Chiapas, in Mexico, hired 390 migrants from Cuba, Venezuela, Colombia, Honduras and Haiti as fumigators to stop the spread of diseases that increased last year, such as dengue, malaria, Zika and chikungunya, all transmitted by mosquitoes. “The pay will help me support myself while I’m in Tapachula,” 26-year-old Venezuelan Jaiver Urdaneta told 14ymedio.
The government of the state of Chiapas added migrants to the “unloading and vectors” program, in charge of removing garbage and abandoned objects from the streets. “Migrants join the brigades specialized in vector control and zoonoses,” said a source from the Ministry of Health.
At the end of January, state health authorities reinforced surveillance on the border. According to official data, last year the cases of dengue increased by 34% and those of malaria by 84%, both transmitted by mosquitoes.
In the first two months of the year, 600 cases of malaria in migrants were found. “It is a risk because it can spread,” the Secretary of State Health, Omar Gómez Cruz, told local media. “Fortunately we controlled it and treated all the people, who were from Venezuela, Central America and Panama.”
Jaiver Urdaneta told this newspaper that he is guaranteed three months with a salary of just over 2,300 pesos per fortnight in the border state with Guatemala. The payment is less than the average of 3,350 that a worker receives, and in addition they do not have medical services or other benefits stipulated in the Federal Labor Law such as the payment of utilities, savings fund, pantry vouchers and food.
“A friend told me about the job; I didn’t have any money. Now I can pay for a room, buy food and Migration has stopped threatening me.” Urdaneta says that the officers have a list with the names and photos of those who make up the program.
Yaniel, a Cuban who is in the same group as Jaiver, says he has been in Tapachula for three months. “I am doing the paper work with the Mexican Commission for Refugee Aid (Comar), and I have an appointment in May. I trust that they will give me refuge, because if it is not in Mexico, I will look in Guatemala, but I’m not returning to Cuba,” he states.
The 28-year-old from Havana explains that he was excluded in February from the group of migrants who were hired to sweep streets, collect garbage and paint public spaces, but the Comar told him that another project was going to be opened. The young man regrets that the remuneration for the salary is low, but at least “it is secure.”
For her part, the Secretary for the Development of the Southern Border, María Amalia Toriello Elorza, indicated that they have detected, without specifying nationality, doctors among the migrant groups. “We want to take advantage of their knowledge and give them the opportunity to contribute to the public health of Chiapas,” she said. “This will not only benefit the population but will also allow the practitioners to continue practicing their profession in a legal and dignified manner.”
Toriello Elorza assured that they are working on the requirements to be met so that migrant specialists can practice in the state under the corresponding legal framework. According to their profile, they will be assigned to the areas in which their knowledge can be used, she clarified.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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