Migrants on the southern border of Mexico try to return to their countries or obtain a regular status in the country after the restrictions of the President of the United States, Donald Trump, but hundreds cannot return with their own means while the shelters serve them without government support.
The Catholic Church in Tapachula, the largest city on the border with Central America, shared with EFE its concern because it is preparing with its own resources to receive people deported by the Trump Government to the southern border and helping those who seek to return voluntarily to their countries.
Father César Augusto Cañaveral, responsible for the Pastoral Care for Human Mobility, warned of the impact of mass deportations and the response of the Government of Mexico to Trump’s policies.
“In the shelter we have 40% of people who are returning to their countries of origin, between 70 and 80 people who are at the door to be returned,” he said in an interview.
Most, the priest detailed, are people from Honduras, El Salvador, Colombia and Venezuela who are in Mexico with families who now prefer to return to their countries since Trump returned to the White House on January 20.
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In particular, they have been discouraged by the policies of mass deportations, the “closing” of the border with thousands of deployed soldiers and the elimination of the ‘CBP One’ application of the Office of Customs and Border Protection that allowed to apply for asylum in the United States from southern Mexico.
“They are truncated hopes of no longer wanting to (continue) and another (reason is) because they stopped their migration procedures and have wanted to return and not expose their lives to what we are living in Mexico,” commented the priest.
Migrants also perceive a tightening in politics in Mexico, where President Claudia Sheinbaum deployed 10,000 elements of the National Guard (GN) on the border with the United States after a call on February 3 with Trump to pause 25% tariffs on Mexican products for a month.
“Something has to be done with that president of the United States, who can let us in, we are sad,” Venezuelan Alvani Villasana, who went out in the last caravan in search of reaching Mexico City, told EFE.
In particular, Venezuelans, who account for about a quarter of irregular migration in Mexico, regret that Trump has ended with Temporary Protection Status (TPS) and the ‘CBP One’.
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“We went through the jungle, we went through many things, so that today it comes out with that it has already eliminated the TPS and the ‘CBP One’. What else does it touch us?” he said.
Another Venezuelan, Nancy Soler, arrived at a shelter in Tapachula after living in a camp, but said that these shelters are no longer an option under the surveillance of the authorities.
“We would rather stay here (on the street) than stay there. Imagine I come from Venezuela, crossing seven countries to get here, crossing the jungle, going through work to continue the same, I’m not going to the United States, I’m going to Zacatecas, where they’re waiting for me, but there’s no kind of permit,” he lamented.
Herbert Bermúdez, administrator of the Jesús El Buen Pastor shelter, mentioned that this place is preparing to receive deported migrants with a capacity for 1,200 people.
“If the United States deports them, Mexico awaits them with open arms, it is a very beautiful thing of humanity from the Government, not government money, but there is support from the Government, such as food, mats, which is the most essential, food, a place to rest,” he said.
Colombia: Search continues for missing limb of italian scientist found dismembered
Rescue teams and Colombian authorities continued their search on Tuesday for the missing left leg of Italian biologist Alessandro Coatti, whose dismembered body was found in the Caribbean city of Santa Marta.
Coatti, 42, was a molecular biologist who had been traveling through South America after working for eight years at the Royal Society of Biology (RSB) in London.
He had been staying in a hotel in Santa Marta since April 3 and was later reported missing. His dismembered body began to be discovered on April 6, when parts were found inside a suitcase abandoned near a football stadium in an area known as Bureche.
“We’re conducting the search along the riverbanks and in the water to identify possible spots where, due to the river’s current, the missing left leg might be located,” Karlotz Omaña García, director of the Magdalena Civil Defense, told The Associated Press. Despite covering a 500-meter radius, the limb was not found.
Authorities have not named any suspects or shared possible motives. A reward of more than $11,000 has been offered for information leading to those responsible for the foreign scientist’s murder.
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Police continue to reconstruct Coatti’s final movements. According to Colonel Jaime Ríos, head of the Santa Marta Metropolitan Police, the Italian biologist arrived in Colombia in January and had visited several locations, including Medellín, before traveling to Santa Marta.
Security footage shows Coatti was in downtown Santa Marta the night before his body was found, the colonel added.
Santa Marta, a popular Caribbean tourist destination, is known for its clear beaches. Police believe Coatti may also have visited Tayrona Park, a protected coastal area located about 34 kilometers (21 miles) from the city center.
MPV Denounces Electoral Blockade as Secretary-General is Disqualified for May Elections
The anti-Chavista party Movement for Venezuela (MPV) denounced on Monday that it was “prevented” from submitting its candidates for the regional and legislative elections on May 25, elections rejected by opposition leaders Edmundo González Urrutia and María Corina Machado.
“MPV, being an active and recognized party in the National Electoral Council (CNE), was prevented from submitting candidates for the current electoral process,” stated the political group through a communiqué on X.
Additionally, the group denounced that its Secretary-General, Simón Calzadilla, was “suddenly disqualified,” as the opposition leader warned last Friday. He also explained that he attempted to access the CNE’s automated candidate submission system but, as he added, the portal showed that he was not authorized to create a user and submit the MPV candidates.
For the party, its “strong decision” to participate in the May elections “highlighted the true nature of this electoral process,” which it described as “extremely flawed.”
Maduro Plans Major Workers’ March on May 1st to Defend Venezuela’s Freedom
Nicolás Maduro, who swore in for a third term in January following his controversial re-election, called on Monday for the “working class” and the “armed people” to gather for a concentration on May 1st for peace, as part of the celebration of International Workers’ Day.
“Let’s have a powerful march of the working class, the combat bodies, and the Bolivarian National Militia in all the cities of the country, from end to end, working class and armed people in the streets shouting for peace,” said the chavista leader in a broadcast on the state channel Venezolana de Televisión (VTV), surrounded by military authorities.
He also stated that Venezuela is more armed than “ever” to “defend the sacred dream of a free homeland, the sacred soil of a heroic land, Venezuela.”
Maduro called on all military personnel to “stay in shape” with a “deployment capacity” and also to have “a very clear view of the entire national territory.”
