Cubans Protest at Mexican Immigration Station

HAVANA TIMES — Nearly 200 Cuban emigrants who tried to reach the US through Mexico began a hunger strike inside the detention facility in Chiapas, which is near the border with Guatemala, CNN-Mexico reported yesterday.

“The waiting time in which Mexico asks Cuban authorities to provide reports to begin deportation proceedings is 72 hours. But that isn’t respected at the detention center; there are more than 200 of our compatriots who have been imprisoned there for more than a month,” said one of the women protesting outside the facility.

According to CNN, the Cubans filed a formal complaint before the Mexican National Human Rights Commission, but that body denied having any information about a rebellion or a hunger strike at the detention center.

Cuban emigrants use Mexico to enter the US by land since, according to American law, they have to enter by land and not by sea to be able to gain refugee status and residency.