Collateral Damage: Mexico Massacre Galvanises Migrant Rights Activists

This article provides a good over-view of the severe dangers faced by Central American migrants traveling though Mexico and the work of several NGO's to assist them. 

Mexico Massacre Galvanises Migrant Rights Activists: "Activists in Latin America have been galvanised by atrocities like the recent massacre of 72 migrants near the U.S. border to step up their efforts on behalf of migrant rights.


An estimated 500,000 undocumented Latin American migrants a year cross Mexico from south to north, through the states of Tabasco, Chiapas, Oaxaca, Veracruz and Tamaulipas, in their attempt to reach the United States. On the way, they are beset from all sides, facing abuses from corrupt police, predatory youth gangs, drug traffickers and kidnappers. 


'We want to create a common front among non-governmental organisations (NGOs), migrant shelters, and rights defenders to create a system that helps migrants identify the most dangerous areas and understand the way organised crime groups operate, so they can avoid them,' Mexican activist Ruben Figueroa told IPS.  


The alliance of NGOs is seeking to influence the Regional Conference on Migration, "to raise awareness about this being a regional phenomenon, not a problem of each particular country. And that all governments have to work together to manage the phenomenon of migration," The Regional Conference on Migration, an intergovernmental body that links 11 countries -- Belize, Canada, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama and the United States -- emerged in 1996 to promote dialogue and cooperation on international migration in a context of economic and social development." Sept. 1, 2010, InterPress Service