Jalisco Governor Aristotles Sandoval has promised to provide financial support and new infrastructure to an organization that assists Central American migrants passing through the Guadalajara metro area.
On Wednesday, the NGO FM4 Paso Libre announced it had closed the doors of its shelter due to a lack of security. A day later, Sandoval came out with his pledge of support.
The FM4 center has served more than 19,000 migrants since it opened five years ago. Located beside the rail tracks near the intersection of Avenidas Federalismo and Washington, it provides shelter, food, clothes and medicine to migrants making the perilous journey through Mexico.
Driven by the lack of opportunity in their native countries, thousands of Central Americans decide to up sticks and pursue the American Dream each year. In Guadalajara they are most commonly seen around Avenida Inglaterra, which runs parallel to the train tracks that dissect the city, although they can be found at intersections throughout the city begging for change alongside poor Tapatios.
The center offers migrants a hot shower, a meal and a place to rest six days a week. Volunteers often keep the migrants company at the shelter until they leave to “catch” the 8 p.m. train heading north. The center is vital as both a means of providing safe haven to migrants and to document their journeys that fall beneath the official radar but are examples of incredible human sacrifice.
A press release issued by FM4 Wednesday lamented the closure: “Unfortunately, circumstances that we have no control of have put our efforts at risk over the last 18 months. The movement of migrants in the city has become more dangerous due to the lack of humanitarian support. Leaving this important work of attending to migrants has social and security consequences for the metro area, just as in other cities. Organized crime elements take advantage of migrants’ isolation and attack them violently: assaults, kidnappings, sexual or physical abuse, or incorporate them into their criminal activities whether willing or not.”
A day after the announcement, Sandoval promised to provide “resources and better infrastructure” for FM4 volunteers to carry out their work. Later in the day, another official revealed that a new property would be made available to the group. The governor also said he had not forgotten his campaign promise of setting up a government agency to attend to migrants (the Instituto Jalisciense de Atención al Migrante) and that the project was “advancing.”
Apart from its humanitarian support to migrants, FM4 has worked hard to bring the problems of migrants in the city to the attention of schools, universities, church parishes, neighborhood organizations and businesses. It has also pushed for public policy solutions to defend migrants’ rights.
In the past three months the group has been in contact with federal, state and municipal authorities, asking for help in the area of security for migrants and their staff.
For more information on FM4, visit www.fm4pasolibre.org.