TAPACHULA. The drought reduced the level of the Suchiate River by half, that To stop to Mexico of Central Americawhere 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 before there was enough water, now The rafters who usually take people from Guatemala to Tapachula have undermined the land and use sandbags to have depth for navigation.
In that same place, as confirmed EFE in the groundthere is no presence of agents from the National Migration Institute (INM)of the National Guard (GN) or any authority that monitors the entry of migrants.
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Vicente Castro, research professor at the Autonomous University of Chiapas (Unach)cited the latest revision of the National Water Commission (Conagua) of the water table of the Soconuscowhich includes the river Suchiatein which he reports that It has lost almost 50 percent 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 river Suchiate has an additional connotation, that it is a border river, which by having a very low flow then allows the traffic of people and goods to be much easier“, he explained.
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A water crisis and a migration crisis
only in Chiapassouthern border state where Tapachula, More than half of the territory is experiencing drought conditionsaccording to him Drought Monitor of the National Water Commission (Conagua)which warns that almost 60 percent of Mexico It has a degree of drought from moderate to severe. As the Suchiate River shows, the water crisis has an impact on the migratory phenomenon in Mexico, which reported an increase in close to 77 percent in irregular migration in 2023, with more than 782 thousand undocumented foreigners detected.
He Venezuelan Rafael Uzcategui He is one of the migrants who has placed pieces of wood to dry his and his family’s clothes next to the stream, where he counted the high altitudes. temperatures above 30 degrees They have been dehydrated because they have nowhere to sleep or consume water.
“The river is dry, (one cannot) bathe in the river, take a shower. (But) if you pass quickly (the border) here, it is ‘dry’, there is no problem to pass, you pass normally, 1,000 (people pass daily), imagine,” he told EFE.
This migrant, like hundreds of his compatriots, He left his country due to the difficult economic situation he was facing.but now they are all stranded on the southern border of Mexico, waiting to find some way to advance towards the northern border.
According to the migrants themselves, about a thousand people cross this tributary every day.some stay in the improvised camps, while others continue along the entire road with temperatures above 35 degrees.
BryanMexican living in Hidalgo Citynext to the river, He stated that he has seen that people can cross walking.
“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 so they can put the boards so that the cameras (rafts) can leave, those who do not want to get their feet wet pay for the cameras and those who do not (pass) walking,” he explained.
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He Venezuelan José Suárez, who has felt the heat wave, said that despite the drought “it is not easy at all” to cross 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.