14ymedio, Ángel Salinas. Mexico, 1 February 2024 — A group of 22 Cubans in an irregular situation – seven women and 15 men – was found this Wednesday in a house located in Tultepec (State of Mexico), where drugs were also sold. On their journey to the United States, “the migrants sought protection in this area, not knowing that it is one of the most violent and where the sale of drugs, extortion from businesses and theft predominates,” municipal policeman Efraín Zamudio tells 14ymedio.
The officer specified that the migrants were found during a search of the house after an anonymous complaint about the sale of narcotics. The statement of the state prosecutor’s office confirms the “seizure of bags with narcotics.” Zamudio specified that “the drugs came from drug dealers who were not there at the time of the operation.”
One of the women said that they had arrived there a day earlier and paid 700 pesos for a three-day stay to someone named Fermín, who presented himself as the owner of the house. “We don’t know about drugs, we come from Tapachula,” the Cuban told the officers.
Zamudio mentioned that because drugs were found, medical tests were performed before the Cubans were handed over to the National Institute of Migration. “A simple protocol, which always respects the human rights of migrants,” stressed the official.
The municipal police of Tultepec delivered the Cubans to Migración on Wednesday, and they were transferred to the station in Las Agujas, in Mexico City, a place that several Cubans have denounced for attempts at extortion and threats by the agents.
Mayelín Díaz Vargas sent this newspaper a complaint last November against Jorge Rosalino Valencia, head of operational services in Las Agujas. The agent threatened her with promoting her transfer to the state of Tabasco for deportation to the Island if she did not remain silent. This woman had to pay $2,500 dollars for her release, despite the fact that she presented an amparo, which allowed her free transit.
In February of the same year, relatives of Luis Ángel Sánchez and Noelvis La O Pereira sent this newspaper information about the arbitrary detention of Cubans at Mexico City International Airport despite having safe-conducts granted by Migration. These people were kept for several days in Las Agujas.
An extortionist, pretending to be a lawyer, asked La O Pereira’s family for $5,000 in exchange for processing his release, arguing that he presented false documents. However, after several days and in the face of complaints in the media that stated that the agents were violating article 37 of the Migration Law. These people had a safe-conduct pass and also humanitarian parole for the United States, so they could not keep them imprisoned. Sánchez and La O Pereira were released and are now in the United States.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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