INM found 70 migrants hiding in a water well of a hotel in Oaxaca

Agents from the National Institute of Migration (INM) found 70 migrants hiding in a water well and in the engine room of a hotel in the state of Oaxaca.

In a statement, the agency reported Wednesday afternoon that as part of an immigration review, agents “found dozens of suitcases and backpacks with clothes in various rooms of the hotel, but without the presence of the owners”.

After that, the migration agents carried out a more extensive and thorough review of the entire building.

After a few minutes they heard whispers that led to the location of 27 men and 25 women from Cuba; 12 men and 2 women from Nicaragua and one man from Venezuela.

In addition to two adult women and one minor of Cuban nationality in the family nucleus.

In the search, the State Police, which supported the INM agents, arrested and presented to the Attorney General's Office (FGR) a Mexican person for the possible crime of illegal trafficking in persons.

Despite the tightening of surveillance on Mexico's southern border in recent years, thousands of migrants from Central America, but also from Cuba, Haiti and various South American, African and Asian countries, enter Mexican territory with the aim of reaching the United States.

Human traffickers seek routes for foreigners and sometimes park in Chiapas, Tabasco, Veracruz, Oaxaca, Puebla and the State of Mexico as an intermediate stop on their journey to the United States.

The region is experiencing a record flow of migrants to the United States, whose Customs and Border Protection Office (CBP) detected more than 1.7 million undocumented immigrants on the Mexican border in fiscal year 2021, which ended September 30.

Mexico deported more than 114,000 foreigners in 2021, according to data from the Migration Policy Unit of the country's Ministry of the Interior.

In addition, the Mexican Commission for Refugee Aid (Comar) received a record 131,448 refugee applications in 2021.

Cuba and Mexico reaffirmed their commitment on Wednesday to “ensure a regular, orderly and safe flow of travellers,” during the 15th meeting of the bilateral Working Group on Migration and Consular Issues, an appointment prior to the visit to the island of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the Cuban Foreign Ministry reported.

Since the end of 2021, the number of Cubans on Mexico's border with the United States has increased from 862 in August to 7,893 in December, according to the Washington Office for Latin American Affairs (WOLA).

Today's meeting, which took place in Mexico City, addressed, in addition to migration, “other issues of bilateral interest” to “reaffirm the will and commitment of both governments to carry out joint actions aimed at strengthening cooperation,” according to a statement issued by the Cuban Foreign Ministry.

Both parties, the Foreign Ministry noted, reiterated the “importance of this type of meeting for the relations of both countries” and “reaffirmed the will and commitment of their respective governments to (...) ensure a regular, orderly and safe flow of travellers.”

The island's delegation was led by Vice Chancellor Carlos Fernández de Cossío, who yesterday met with Cubans residing in Mexico and the Association of Cubans Resident “José Martí”.

On Mexico's side, the delegation was led by Maximiliano Reyes Zúñiga, undersecretary for Latin America and the Caribbean.

The meeting was part of a series of activities that have been carried out between the two countries prior to the visit to the island of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, next May.

In early March, a delegation from the ruling National Regeneration Movement (Morena, left), López Obrador's party, toured Havana. Days later, the Mexico-Cuba interparliamentary meeting was held in the Caribbean capital.

The previous meeting on migration issues was held in June last year in Havana