The price of passage: Migrants fear threat of extortion in Guatemala
Al Jazeera
Advocates say law enforcement officials are preying on migrants and asylum seekers heading north across Central America.
Tapachula, Mexico – Luis Alfredo Rodriguez held his young son’s hand as he walked along a busy street near Tapachula’s central plaza, asking for money from those passing by.
The 27-year-old Venezuelan migrant had just crossed into the Mexican border city hours earlier with seven of his relatives, including his wife and children.
But they arrived with no money, Rodriguez explained. Everything they had was lost to extortion as they travelled northward through neighbouring Guatemala.
“At every police checkpoint, the police officers demanded money,” Rodriguez told Al Jazeera, his forehead creased with worry as he kept an eye on his children. “It was a lot of money.”
Hundreds of thousands of migrants and asylum seekers like Rodriguez pass through Guatemala every year, as they make their way through Central America to the southern border of the United States.
