Ecuadorians are part of a high number of refugee applications that Mexico has received this year. Violence in the country is one of the reasons for applying for asylum.
A migrant remains in the Casa Mambré shelter, on July 30, 2023, in Mexico City, Mexico.
Ecuadorian migrants are part of the unprecedented ‘avalanche’ of refugee applications that Mexico has received during the first semester of 2023: 74,764 of different nationalities.
Between January and June there are 2,727 Ecuadorians who have obtained a visitor’s card for humanitarian reasons in Mexico, of which 728 have requested refugee status, according to data from the National Institute of Migration.
The nationalities that request the most refuge in Mexico are Hondurans, Haitians and Venezuelans.
The case of ‘Valentina’, a 47-year-old Ecuadorian, is extraordinary due to the brevity of her process, since in just a few days she obtained her refugee status -when it usually takes long months-, but the violence that justified her trip is also common.
He left Guayaquil after, in the midst of the wave of violence that is plaguing the city, organized crime murdered a woman from a local neighboring his restaurant for having denounced the extortions they suffered.
“The same day that he denounced he was shot, and all the blood fell on me. The next day, I opened my store, I saw a bullet there and I thought that this was it for me,” said Valentina, who chose this nickname for security, in an interview with EFE.
At that moment, she decided to leave the country, but what came next was no better: a group of Mexicans kidnapped her, raped her, and separated her from her 23-year-old daughter upon arrival in Mexico.
Between January and June 2023, a total of 13,410 Ecuadorians are in an irregular situation in that country, according to statistics from the Migration Institute. But most do not seek refuge but move to the United States.
Although she already has refugee status, Valentina wants to continue her journey to the United States, because she assures that she wants to flee as far as possible from those who abused her.
“I don’t see a future in Mexico, because the people who kidnapped me are looking for me. I am terrified that they will find me, and something will happen to me”, Valentina asserted, with a voice on the verge of tears.
The Mexican Commission for Aid to Refugees (Comar) projects that, if the current trend continues, there will be a record 150,000 refugee applications in Mexico throughout the year.
