Two journalists of Cuban nationality who entered Mexican territory irregularly will not be deported and will receive humanitarian visas, reported this Friday the National Institute of Migration (INM) of Mexico.
They are the journalists Héctor Valdés and Esteban Rodríguez . In an interview with Radio Formula, Valdés explained that in early January exiles left Cuba and first took refuge in El Salvador.
In a statement, the agency, dependent on the Ministry of the Interior, indicated today that its request for refuge in Mexican territory is being processed.
“Both already have a visitor’s card for humanitarian reasons issued by the INM, as part of the refugee application process that they registered with the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance (Comar),” the INM reported.
He specified that on February 6 “one of them was granted an exit letter so that he could complete, in the state of Chiapas (southeast of the country), the refugee process that he requested.”
Meanwhile, the second remained -until this Friday- in the facilities of the migratory station (a temporary accommodation for migrants who cannot prove their regular migratory status in the country) in Mexico City by court order, derived from a resource of Amparo that he filed.
But he said that by desisting and requesting refuge with Comar, “a humanitarian visa was issued to him to continue the corresponding process in this entity.”
The INM stated in the note that neither of them will be deported to their country of origin and, on the contrary, “in strict compliance with the Migration Law and adherence to respect for their rights, the two journalists have the safeguard established by Mexican standards.
Previously, the INM had confirmed that it had acted “in accordance with the law” by detaining the two Cuban journalists who a few weeks ago entered the country “irregularly” after leaving the island.
On January 5, Cuba rejected the criticism of the UN and various NGOs for the departure of the two independent journalists from the country who said they were threatened by the authorities.
Cuba’s permanent representative in Geneva, Juan Antonio Quintanilla , charged on Twitter against the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights, Mary Lawlor, who had described the situation of Esteban Rodríguez and Héctor Luis Valdés as “worrying”.
Days later, on January 11, the Salvadoran immigration authorities reported that they did not know the whereabouts of Valdés and Rodríguez, who requested refuge in that nation and whose process was closed due to “abandonment.”
In 2021, the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance (Comar) received a record 131,448 refugee applications 2021. Of these petitioners, more than 51,000 are Haitians, followed by 36,361 from Honduras and 8,319 from Cuba.