14ymedio, Ángel Salinas, Mexico, 9 November 2022 — On Tuesday, the State Civil Guard of Mexico arrested more than 100 migrants, mostly Cubans, who were abandoned by coyotes in two hotels in the municipality of Soledad, in the state of San Luis Potosí.
“The group waited for the evening to continue on its way to the United States,” said one of the guides, speaking to the clerk of a store where they bought water, ham and bread. The business is located a few feet from one of the hotels.
Contacted by 14ymedio, the clerk, who identified himself as Josué, pointed out that, between Saturday night and early Monday morning, several vans “of Cubans” entered the California Hotel. The establishment is located four minutes from federal highway 57, one of the routes used by coyote networks for the smuggling of migrants, according to what Miguel Gallegos, a spokesperson for State Security, said in May.
Josué specified that on Monday, several Central Americans, mostly men who stayed at the España Hotel, descended from a truck normally used for the transport of cattle. “I know because one entered the store and asked me if I accepted quetzales. That’s when I found out that he was from Guatemala and the others came from Honduras and Ecuador,” he clarified.
“I can’t give you exact numbers, but several groups of between 40 to 60 people per day pass through the municipality. Some stay, others are escorted, like the Cubans,” Josué explained.
Gallegos pointed out that, because of the increase in roadblocks, the polleros (coyotes) began to use alternate roads, and the state administration is trying to cover the “gaps” used by human traffickers for the transfer to the U.S. border.
On Tuesday, the governor of San Luis Potosí, Ricardo Gallardo Carmona, addressed the immigration issue and reported that the authorities “rescued” more than 100 undocumented people, almost all of Cuban origin, but wondered how they managed to get almost half-way on their journey without having been intercepted by any authority.
From San Luis Potosí, migrants can take the route that brings them to the state of Coahuila and try to cross the Rio Grande through Ciudad Acuña or Piedras Negras. The crossings through Matamoros, Reynosa and Nuevo Laredo are another alternative, but they are controlled by the drug cartels. Several Cubans have told 14ymedio that the Gulf Cartel uses keys and colored bracelets for the passage of migrants, depending on the payment they make for the transfer.
According to the authorities of San Luis Potosí, the National Migration Institute will take care of the corresponding procedures for the repatriation of irregular migrants.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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