This past Friday, February 9th in Arriaga, Chiapas, a massive operative was carried out against some 500 Central American migrants aboard the Chiapas-Mayab freight train. Participating were hundreds of migration officials, members of the PFP (Federal Preventative Police) and AFI (Federal Investigation Agency), in another of what have been increasing aggressions against Central American migrants. What was later characterized by migrants and others as a violent aggression left a number of migrants beaten, including a woman 5-months pregnant, and others severely injured like Yolanda Amita de León Méndez, who's foot was amputated after getting caught under the train. In addition 116 were detained for deportation, including 44 Guatemalans, 32 Hondurans, 27 El Salvadorans, 12 Nicaraguans and a Cuban. ,

Without giving credence to reports of blatant human rights violations, the Subsecretary of Population, Migration and Religious Matters, Florencio Salazar Adame, reported in a February 12th press conference that agents involved in the action respected the human rights of all those involved in the operation, which was carried out to protect the security of the Mexican citizens. Contrary to these claims, however, are numerous reports from support organizations, human rights centers and migrants themselves, who affirm that this incident follows recent with patterns of the criminalization of Central American migrants in Mexico. Despite the ever-increasing economic importance of migrants in the Americas, there is nevertheless a trend to criminalize such undocumented peoples, casting them as criminals or terrorists rather than people simply seeking to survive. Through an overview of the broader context of migration in the region, precedence can be seen for these types of violent actions in the U.S. and increasingly in Mexico as well.

In the Sierra Madre del Sur, and stretching down to the lowlands and coast of Chiapas, it's hard to go very far without seeing 'travel agencies' advertising 'tours' to border destinations - Tijuana, Ciudad Juárez, Nuevo Laredo. Nor is it uncommon to see large pickups with license plates from Chihuahua, Tamaulipas and other northern states, many of which belong to coyotes bringing migrants north in their search for work in the U.S. - the land of promise. Mexicans, Guatemalans, El Salvadorans, Hondurans. Not terrorists or criminals, merely people seeking a better life for themselves and their families. Since the explosion of northward migration in the wake of the economic restructuring programs promoted by the U.S., and backed by international financial institutions in the 80's, the coast of Chiapas has turned into a corridor for Mexican and Central American migrants leaving their homes and families in search of work.