Migrant Caravan in Central America: Let them all in!

Internationalist Solidarity against the Criminalization of Immigrants from Central America!

Statement from the Revolutionary Communist International Tendency (RCIT), 21.01.2020, www.thecommunists.net

On 15 January, another massive immigrant caravan departed from San Pedro Sula, Honduras – similar to those which have taken place in the last years. These caravans attract each time more people who are running away from the extreme poverty, violence, lack of opportunities and the repression from their governments for opposing to austerity measures against the people and the authoritarianism of their political leaders. On 20 January thousands of immigrants were repressed by the Guatemalan police and the Mexican National Guard at the border between both countries, forcing many of these immigrants to cross the Suchiate River in order to get into Mexican territory.

Immigration from Central America towards the United States has a long history that results principally from the colonization that the North American companies have driven in all the countries of Latin America, the exploitation of their natural resources and their labor force. By making this dangerous journey, that implies the risk of dying or being kidnapped by the organized crime in Mexican land, by heat strokes, fatigue and many other dangers, the Central American immigrants are just seeking to obtain a bit of the fruit of their labor that has been taken away from them through many years. Never before in history has so much liberty existed for commodities to cross the borders while, at the same time, the labor forces who produce these commodities has had so much restrictions to do enter other countries.

Unlike the claim of many "analysts" in the media, these caravans are not encouraged by sinister forces that want to destabilize the Administrations of Donald Trump or Lopez Obrador. Of course, there are people joining these caravans who would like to get political and economical advantages but the main reason these caravans are created is because proletarians know they have more possibilities of achieving their goal if they join forces as a group, especially if they do it massively.

Faced with this desperate attempt by thousands of poor workers and peasants alongside with their families to obtain a new, more bearable life than in their homeland, the Mexican government has chosen to obey to U.S. imperialism led by the white supremacist Donald Trump and by deploying the brand new National Guard to the Mexican southern border to keep Central American immigrants from having a chance of getting to the United States. The immigration retention policy by the Mexican government goes from the militarized containment through the false promise of humanitarian visas that never get to be acquired by immigrants, plus the offer of informal badly paid employment in its welfare programs "Jovenes Construyendo el Futuro" (Young People Building the Future) and "Sembrando Vida" (Sowing Life) with the condition of getting back to their homeland. With this measure the government of the so called "Fourth Transformation" meekly complies with the U.S. anti-immigration policy. Since last year this policy has caused the detention of more than 77.000 Honduran immigrants. Those who have been retained at the immigrant attention centers run away desperately because of the terrible conditions in which they are hold. This is dividing them and making their path more dangerous. While the demand of the immigrant caravans is to be allowed to travel together in order to be safer, the Mexican government seeks to split them and to make their journey more dangerous. And all of this has been done under a progressive speech from the Mexican president in which he talks about “solidarity and fraternity with our immigrant brothers”. This speech contrasts completely with the reality of his actions.

Meanwhile, in the north, the U.S. government keeps thousands of immigrants in detention centers that are nothing but concentration camps where people suffer from diseases, hunger and despair, besides that immigrant families are systematically separated. Thousands of children have been separated from their parents and put in custody of ICE, where they have been victims of all kind of abuse, including sexual abuse.

From the Revolutionary Communists International Tendency (RCIT) we oppose this repressive and inhumane treatment to the immigrants by the Mexican and the US governments. We call for the complete opening of the borders of imperialist countries so that the workers, poor peasants and their families can enter them. We denounce the Mexican government for trying to stop these caravans. We repudiate the xenophobic and racist campaign intended to criminalize the immigrants. We make a call to all the revolutionaries and activists in North and Central America to join in solidarity with the immigrant caravans to pressure our governments to end this anti-migration policy of U.S. imperialism, and stop the repression in Central American countries and to do everything that is in our hands to help the path of our class brothers and sisters in their way to the United States. Likewise, we call revolutionaries and activists in the U.S. to fight the racist and authoritarian government policies that chase and criminalize immigrants from all the oppressed countries.

The RCIT calls all revolutionaries in Latin and North America to join us on the basis of an anti-imperialist program that promotes working class internationalism! Forward in building revolutionary parties as part of a new World Party of Socialist Revolution!

* For an International Solidarity Movement to Support the Migrants’ Caravans!

* Stop the militarization of the Mexican borders, both the north and the south!

* Open the Borders!

* Undermine All Efforts of U.S. Imperialism to Stop the Migrants’ Caravan!

Agrupación de Lucha Socialista (Mexican Section of the RCIT)

International Bureau of the RCIT