“Assassins, assassins, assassins, assassins!” was the cry, amid joy and fury, of migrants and others in front of the National Migration Institute (INM) in Polanco, Mexico City (CDMX), on December 14, 2021. They were protesting, because the National Guard has already murdered some migrants and the increasingly severe government harassment has also forced them to attempt more unsafe trips, resulting in terrible events such as the recent deaths of the 56 migrants in Chiapas when the trailer in which they were traveling, hiding, crashed.

The migrants in the protest are from the caravan that left Tapachula, Chiapas, on October 23. Newly arrived in CDMX, they called out the repression by the authorities, to Aurora Roja: “The police have detained us a lot. We have been attacked a lot by Migration [la migra]. They have clubbed women, even women, a lot and have returned them to Tapachula.” “Migration has even gone into businesses so that they won’t sell us food, so they won’t give us water. We have reached towns that have not given us anything. So there have been up to three, four days that we haven’t eaten anything.” “Migration had been saying that we were thieves.”

The National Guard has also prevented them from getting into vehicles along the road and, they say, “that has affected us a lot, because in the heat, many children get dehydrated, many women have been carrying their children, with their suitcases full of stuff for babies. This is tiring, this has upset us, this has bothered us a lot.”

They have fled their countries of origin due to the harsh conditions created by the current world imperialist capitalist system: unemployment, low wages, ruin of the countryside, natural disasters caused by global warming, and the brutal repression by governments, as well as gangs and the “mareros”]¹ who demand money from people and who kill young people or their families when they resist being part of the gangs. Upon arrival in Mexico, the Mexican government, obedient to Washington’s orders, has restricted them for many months to Tapachula on the Mexican southern border.

“Tapachula has already become a prison for migrants, that is the truth,” calls out a woman from the caravan. Irineo Mújica from Pueblos Sin Fronteras [People Without Borders], who has been at the forefront of this caravan, also described the situation of the migrants in Tapachula: “Hell, hell on the southern border. Hell, the way they have treated the caravan, the containment has been brutal, cruel and they have definitely treated us like animals since we left and when we were in Tapachula.”

This caravan, with its unity, effort and courage, has broken the bars of that prison, but many more migrants continue to be restricted to Tapachula. Getting out has been a great step, but on their way they have faced the repressive agents-guardians of this system, who time and time again have made attempts to disrupt this and other caravans, both with deception and brutal repression. We have reported more on this in two recent articles: “Migrants Rebel Against System Robbing Their Lives; U.S. and Mexico Intensify Brutal Racist Repression, The Rebellion of the Migrants Is Justified” and “Mexico: Support the Migrants and Fight to End This Murderous System!”

Brutal Repression when Entering Mexico City

Quite contrary to the honeyed and hypocritical speeches of the city authorities, upon reaching CDMX the caravan faced more repression from the antiriot police as they tried to continue towards the Basílica de Guadalupe. As these migrants told us: “The last confrontation we had here, to get here to the Basílica, there are some videos that we have seen that do not show how it is, but we do, because we have lived it. The policemen beating on us, following people to beat on them, treating us real nasty, and they do not show all that, they only show what is useful for them. What I saw, they beat on a lot of children, they beat on a lot of women, even on my sister, the police beat on her. They beat on a lot of people.”

“We said we wanted to enter [into Mexico City]. They put up 3 barriers… they threw tear gas canisters at us and everything. Even people from Mexico supported us, so that we did not get left behind.”

“We wanted to move forward, we wanted to push and they started turning back the strollers that carry the children. That is outrageous, it is criminal, beating on a woman who comes with her children in her arms, that you see her thrown on the ground by a policeman. That sparked anger....”

Debating Revolution and the New Communism with the Migrants

We in the Revolution Movement joined the protest and talked with the migrants. The Revolution flyer of the Revolutionary Communist Organization, Mexico (OCR, M) was widely distributed and we debated with migrant women and men about this revolution and Bob Avakian’s new communism. In the exchange we also learned about the situation in their countries that has forced them to migrate, as well as what motivates them and gives them strength and fury since they left Tapachula to face the attempts to deceive them and the repeated repressions of the INM, the National Guard and the antiriot police in CDMX in their attempts to disrupt and block the caravan.

When talking about revolution, some said, “The revolution thing would be very good” and “This revolution is needed.” Another person was of the opinion that “They are a utopia… the [these ideas] are revolutionary, I have not seen them. As long as they are something for the good, well everyone fights in their own way… but I am in favor of any of the things that can improve the situation of people like us who migrate, who fight.”

Another person began to learn, from the flyer, something about Bob Avakian, international revolutionary leader and author of the new communism. He commented, “Karl Marx spoke of communism or Marxism as a philosophy. Sometimes I have read this and I hardly, I hardly even understand it. But I don’t know much about Bob Avakian. I imagine that he details more clearly, more understandably about the theory of communism, or a revolution....”

Others expressed doubts about this revolution, such as, “It is very difficult, well, that a revolution can be brought about in order to overthrow what is capitalism and imperialism.” We put forward with some that this revolution is possible “because this system will not stop causing great atrocities as long as it exists” and “resistance and rebellion are born out of oppression,” as stated in the Revolution flyer, which also says, “It is necessary to go beyond resistance and rebellion to communist revolution, and that requires science and a growing conscious and organized force.”

One migrant posed an important question, “What role do you have to play as a migrant for this to be a revolution?” We responded that this is a world system of exploitation, and wherever you are, people must fight for this revolution, be it in Honduras or in the United States. If you arrive in the United States, contact the Revolutionary Communist Party, United States (RCP, USA), or here in Mexico with Aurora Roja and the Revolutionary Communist Organization, Mexico. Wherever you are, you can get into this revolution more, promote it and organize people for this revolution.

“Much, Much to Thank the Mexicans for Who Have Lent Their Hand to Us”

The migrants also expressed that there was “Much, much to thank the Mexicans for who have lent their hand to us.” “Even the government has said that it has helped us migrants a lot, but that is a lie. The people have helped us, the people have opened their doors for us, but not the government.” “I think the people who do show solidarity with the migrants are the poorest people, because we were in a place where they gave us food. We had plenty of food, clothes, shoes.”

“First of all, I have a lot, a lot to thank the Mexicans for who have reached out to us, without any obligation to support us... I am very grateful to all the people of Mexico, and all I ask is that you continue to support us... we do not want to harm nobody, only that they let us pass and that is all we ask for.” “That they let us pass through, nothing more... a decision can change the destiny of a generation.”

As a banner and a poster said in the protest in front of the INM:

“No Human Being Is Illegal!

“Neither the People Smugglers nor the Migrants are Guilty. Capitalism Is Guilty!”

Download the PDF of this text in Spanish: Migrantes-protesta INM.pdf

Aurora Roja

Voice of the Revolutionary Communist Organization, Mexico

aurora-roja.blogspot.com | auroraroja.mx@gmail.com

Posted by Aurora Roja