Officials from Belize, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras and Venezuela were summoned by Mexico to coordinate actions to protect the human rights of migrants in the face of possible mass deportations from the United States.
Ministers and representatives of Mexico and nine countries in Latin America and the Caribbean began a two-day meeting on Thursday in the Mexican capital to define joint actions in the face of possible mass deportations that Donald Trump could implement, who will assume the presidency of the United States next week.
The meeting promoted by the Mexican government was attended by representatives of Belize, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras and Venezuela, the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported in a statement.
Most of the migrants who cross Mexican territory on their route to the United States come from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Venezuela, Colombia, Nicaragua, Cuba and Haiti, among others.
During the meeting, it is planned to coordinate actions in order to protect the human rights of migrants, prevent abuse and mistreatment, and strengthen international cooperation to address the migration phenomenon from its causes, the Mexican Foreign Ministry said.
The meeting was proposed this month by Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who proposed that a meeting of Latin American representatives should be held to examine the challenges facing the region in immigration matters in the face of Trump's arrival.
In October 2023, a summit of presidents and representatives of the governments of ten countries in Latin America and the Caribbean was held in the Mexican city of Palenque, in which various actions to address migration were analyzed.
On Wednesday, Sheinbaum held a telephone conversation with his Guatemalan counterpart, Bernardo Arévalo, with whom he discussed bilateral cooperation.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Arévalo said that he spoke with his Mexican counterpart about the economic development of the border that Mexico and Guatemala share in order to generate jobs for migrants, and the possibility that Mexican consulates can serve Guatemalans who have some type of immigration problem.
The Guatemalan president ruled out that there is a proposal for his country to become a destination for receiving migrants from other countries, as Trump already agreed with Guatemala in his first term.
The Sheinbaum government is preparing a series of actions to assist Mexicans who may be deported.
As part of the preventive measures, the authorities plan to activate this month a special application that will function as an “alert button” and will allow Mexicans to send a signal to their families and the consulate when they are facing imminent arrest.
Mexico will also have some 2,610 lawyers and assistants in its consulates in the United States to serve its compatriots.
In December, Sheinbaum said his government was open to the possibility of accepting non-Mexican migrants that they can be deported by the United States, although with certain conditions, among which could be accepting only certain nationalities, or receiving in exchange financial support to return them from Mexico to their countries.
The president has urged Washington to repatriate migrants to their countries of origin.
The government of former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (2018-2024) reached an agreement with the United States in 2023 to receive up to about 30,000 repatriated Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans per month after US President Joe Biden put regulations into effect which tightened the requirements to obtain asylum.
Migration has long been a sensitive issue between the United States and Mexico, and has become even more urgent after Trump's threat to impose 25% tariffs on Mexican productsunless the country does more to stop the flow of migrants and drugs.