Q24N (EFE) The drought has halved the level of the Suchiate River, which separates Mexico from Central America, where migrants take advantage of the fall of the tributary and the shortage of border agents to cross without restrictions.
The shore looks deserted and, where there used to be enough water, now the rafters who usually take people from Guatemala to the Mexican city of Tapachula have undermined the earth and use sandbags to have depth for navigation.
In that same place, according to EFE on the ground, there is no presence of agents from Mexico’s Instituto Nacional de Migración (INM) – National Migration Institute, the Guardia Nacional de Mexico (GNM) – National Guard or any authority monitoring the entry of migrants.
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Vicente Castro, a research professor at the Autonomous University of Chiapas (Unach), cited the latest review by the National Water Commission (Conagua) of the Soconusco water table, which includes the Suchiate River, in which it reports that it has lost almost 50 % of its original volume.
“Since 2010 to date, the flow of the rivers has been decreasing, which is why they have decreased. In particular, the case of the Suchiate River has an additional connotation, that it is a border river, which, having a very low flow, allows the traffic of people and goods to be much easier,” he told EFE.
Between a water crisis and a migration crisis
In Chiapas alone, the state on the southern border where Tapachula is located, more than half of the territory is experiencing drought conditions, according to the Drought Monitor of the National Water Commission (Conagua), which warns that almost 60% of Mexico has a degree of drought from moderate to severe.
As the Suchiate River shows, the water crisis has an impact on the migration phenomenon in Mexico, which reported an increase of nearly 77% in irregular migration in 2023, with more than 782,000 undocumented foreigners detected.
Venezuelan Rafael Uzcátegui is one of the migrants who has placed pieces of wood to dry his and his family’s clothes next to the flow, where he said that the high temperatures above 30 degrees have dehydrated them because they have nowhere to sleep or consume water. .
“The river is dry, (one cannot) bathe in the river, take a shower. (But) if one passes quickly (the border) here, it is ‘dry’, there is no problem to pass, one passes normally, 1,000 (people pass every day), imagine,” he told EFE.
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This migrant, like hundreds of his compatriots, left his country due to the difficult economic situation he faced, but now they are all stranded on the southern border of Mexico, waiting to find some way to advance towards the northern border.
Stranded on the southern border
According to the migrants themselves, about 1,000 people cross this tributary daily, some stay in improvised camps, while others continue along the entire road with temperatures above 35 degrees.
Brayan, a Mexican who lives in Ciudad Hidalgo, next to the river, said that he has seen that people can cross on foot.
“The only thing is that there are holes where the machine dug, where there are holes a person can fall and drown, they do this to be able to put the boards so that the chambers (rafts) can come out, those who do not want to get their feet wet pay the fees. cameras and those who do not (pass) walking,” he explained.
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Venezuelan José Suárez, who has felt the heat wave, said that despite the drought “it is not easy at all” to cross the Suchiate, where they also fear because the water is contaminated.
“The majority pass by raft, those who have money pass, they represent a risk and there is a lot of danger and, if you are alone, they will rob you,” he said.
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