A family of Honduran migrants attacked a Mexican couple at their fruit stand in Chiapas, Mexico, as revenge for allegedly collecting signatures to remove them from the neighborhood where they had been living and causing problems for months, according to El Universal.
In the disturbing video, the Honduran man beats the Mexican fruit vendor as the woman yells that the victim had collected signatures to kick her out of her house in the Rincón del Tigre neighborhood in Tuxtla Gutiérrez in central Chiapas, Mexico on April 4. The migrants’ younger daughter even participates in the beating, hitting the fruit vendors back while the man holds him in a headlock.
The victim’s wife and young child are seen crying as they watch the brutal attack.
???? Familia #hondureña golpea a mexicanos por recolectar firmas para que se salieran de la colonia ???????? pic.twitter.com/p2p9VrsNjU
— AnonymusSinCensura (@anonymus_sin) April 3, 2019
The Honduran man eventually beats the fruit vendor to the ground and stomps on his neck and face. The victim’s wife then tries to pull the attacker off of her husband, but the migrants’ older daughter brutally pulls her by the hair, throwing the woman to the ground.
“The people here know what we are,” the Central American woman yells, before telling her partner to stop beating the Mexican so they can leave the scene.
It’s not clear whether the victims filed a complaint against the attackers with the Public Ministry following the attack.
The attack took place in Chiapas, the country’s southernmost state that touches the border with Guatemala.
Migrants Assault Mexican Immigration Facilities
The attack on the family comes two days after a group of African migrants rioted and destroyed part of the immigration facility where they had been camping outside of, after growing impatient waiting for documents to travel freely through the country toward the U.S. border, according to reports.
The migrants, mostly from Congo, Angola, and Cameroon, threw several chairs at the facility in Tapachula, Chiapas, on April 2, breaking the security booth glass, according to La Jornada. They then verbally assaulted immigration officers and security personnel attempting to control the situation.
Migrantes africanos y haitianos protestaron en la estación migratoria Siglo XXI en Tapachula, donde rompieron cristales y se avasallaron sobre las rejas para exigir que se les otorgue permiso para transitar libremente para llegar a Estados Unidos.https://t.co/cywlBvCme7 pic.twitter.com/bN1dGFWcEU
— Alerta Chiapas ⚡ (@AlertaChiapas) April 2, 2019
The riot started after a woman who was inside, about to be released from the facility, ran outside when she saw a family member on the other side of the fence, causing security agents to intercept her, Alerta Chiapas reported.
Dozens of migrants then broke out in protest, verbally assaulting Mexican authorities and damaging the Siglo 21 National Migration Institute (INM) office near the Guatemala border—one of the most modern migration facilities in Latin America, according to La Jornada.
???? Cientos de migrantes africanos viven hacinados en estación migratoria de Tapachula, Chiapas
Posted by Noticieros Televisa on Thursday, April 4, 2019
The migrants said they had been camping outside of the INM center for more than two weeks, waiting to receive documentation that would allow them to travel through Mexico toward the U.S. border.
African migrants claimed that Mexican authorities have given priority to Cuban migrants and that many Cubans now have the proper documentation to continue their journey toward the United States, according to the media outlet.
Ramón Verdugo, the coordinator of the migrant shelter Todo por Ellos, or “Everything for Them,” said that INM officials told him the facility was too full for them to attend to all of the migrants, La Jornada reported.
It’s not clear whether the migrants involved in the riot will be deported or allowed to travel through Mexico.
