71 migrants, including Venezuelans, rescued from a house in Oaxaca, in southeastern Mexico

Authorities in Oaxaca arrested two people who were allegedly in charge of monitoring the migrants.

The Attorney General’s Office of Oaxaca, in southeastern Mexico, reported on Friday the discovery of 71 migrants of various nationalities, including 19 minors, who were crowded inside a house.

In the operation, which was carried out on Thursday, the authorities found 32 people from Ecuador, 25 from Venezuela, 7 from Colombia, 3 from Honduras, 1 from Chile, 1 from El Salvador, 1 from Peru and 1 more of African origin, according to the statement released by the Attorney General’s Office.

The report added that two people were arrested who allegedly held the migrants against their will.

The discovery was the result of various ministerial investigations led by the FGEO. Agents from the State Investigation Agency (AEI) participated in the operation in collaboration with agents from the Navy (Semar), the State Police and the National Guard (GN).

The FGEO indicated that the operation was carried out this Thursday, in a home located in the Gustavo Pineda de la Cruz neighborhood, in the municipality of Juchitán de Zaragoza.

After the rescue of the migrants, the agents requested the support of the National Migration Institute (INM) for their transfer, their protection and to be assessed in order to determine their state of health.

During the operation, two people were arrested, a 36-year-old man and a 42-year-old woman, “both of foreign origin, who were presumably in charge of taking care of the migrants and making phone calls to their relatives in which they demanded the payment of a large sum of money as payment for their rescue.”

The Prosecutor’s Office added that the two detainees were presented before the corresponding authority to determine their legal situation.

Since October 2018, and despite the tightening of surveillance on Mexico’s southern border, thousands of migrants from Central and South America, the Caribbean, and countries in Africa and China have entered Mexico illegally with the aim of reaching the United States.

Human traffickers seek routes for foreigners who sometimes stop in the southern states of the country such as Chiapas, Tabasco, Veracruz, and Oaxaca, as well as those in the north, which border the United States, one of the last stops on their journey.

In their journey, migrants use dangerous transfers or stays to clandestinely cross Mexico, routes for which they pay thousands of dollars to human traffickers.

In addition, according to the statement, they allegedly made phone calls to the relatives of those detained to demand money as payment for their release.

The number of undocumented migrants detained in Mexico tripled in the first five months of this year compared to the same period last year, according to official figures.

Written by Oscar El Blue

Rescatan a 71 Migrantes, incluidos venezolanos, retenidos en una vivienda en Oaxaca, en el sureste de México