Although the stories are not new, many compatriots canceled the coyoteros between USD 15,000 and USD 18,000 for traveling to the United States, the gateway being, in all cases, Mexico.
According to information from the Ministry of Government, 56,390 Ecuadorians who left between January and May of this year did not return to the country. This would be the highest figure since 2017.
85% of them would have stayed in Mexico and the United States, since it is estimated that at least 30,117 remain in the first nation and 18,313 in the second.
The Government recognizes that the economic and social problems derived from the pandemic caused more Ecuadorians, mainly from the Austro, to venture to travel.
The Vice Minister of Government, Homero Castanier, assured that it is a great challenge to generate policies that stop the exodus.
“The only mechanism is economic reactivation. People leave because they do not have a job, unemployment rose one point, and 7 out of 10 do not have a formal job, “he said.
But for the migrants, these offers remain in the air when they must attend to their families.
Cousins Antonio and Marcelo González, with four months living in the state of Minnesota, have paid off their entire debt.
Antonio said that in Ecuador that is impossible and that he got tired of earning a basic salary with his degree in Systems engineer.
The Ecuadorians left by plane from Guayaquil to Mexico City and then, by land and on foot, entered the United States on February 7, irregularly.
They are not the only ones. From his Santa Marianita neighborhood, in Azogues, Cañar province, at least 15 of his neighbors between 19 and 35 years old traveled to the United States.
In the province of Azuay, on the other hand, there are several issues that confirm the increase in migration: the high demand for passports in the Civil Registry, deaths and disappearances at the borders during the crossings and the testimonies of the neighbors of the towns.
On June 4, after 15 hours of staying outside the Cuenca Civil Registry, Cristian managed to obtain his passport. Next week he will travel to Mexico and from there he will cross the border into the United States.
He is one of 8,133 people who obtained passports between June 1 and June 24. Before the pandemic they delivered about 3,000 documents per month.
Diego Cabezas, former director of the Azuay Civil Registry, said that 97% of the people who request a passport in Cuenca do so to go to Mexico.
He commented that even though people say it is for tourism, they perceive that it is because they want to migrate. In addition, trips to Mexican territory have been facilitated since 2018, when the abolition of the visa came into force.
Patricia Chauca, a leader in the Cañarense canton of Déleg, stated that in almost all the towns of Azuay and Cañar there are people who left because they do not have a job.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Mauricio Montalvo assured that any indication of possible victims of migrant smuggling is immediately acted upon and actions are coordinated with the Ministry of Government to address the cases.
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