Network of 'coyotes' and counterfeiters bringing Cubans to the U.S. dismantled 

Eight members of a network of coyotes that falsified documents and moved migrants to the United States from the Mexican border city of Piedras Negras were arrested by the Criminal Investigation Agency and the Mexican Army, reported 14ymedio on Monday.

The coyotes used five homes to hide the undocumented migrants and three cars to move them between destination points. The network had been operating since 2018 and, as was revealed after the arrest, could be backed by "some municipal police officers."

"We have information on the transfer of 220 migrants and at least 63 Cubans to the cities of Carrizo Springs and Eagle Pass, in Texas," said Santos Martinez, an officer of the Civil Police of Coahuila.

Martinez said that the first five members of the network were arrested on Wednesday. They claimed to be led by a person identified as Elvira. "The woman was intercepted in a safe house within the city limits, along with two Hondurans who paid 1,000 dollars each to enter the U.S. in a wagon," the official told 14ymedio.

In Piedras Negras, "11 Hondurans who were waiting on the arrival of a group of Cubans and Nicaraguans to be taken to Carrizo Springs on February 16" were also intercepted, Martinez said.

Three other members of the smuggling ring were arrested on Sunday while attempting to take five Cubans to Eagle Pass. Fifteen migrants were also intercepted during this police operation near the Rio Bravo in Morelos.  

"A list of payroll payments to local authorities and municipal police officers was found in the safe house and is being investigated. The amounts indicated are in dollars and are up to $20 per month," said Martinez.

The official explained that they also found "immigration permits and false INE credentials from other states, mainly from the state of Chiapas."

Those arrested face charges of migrant smuggling and human trafficking.

Cubans are the third-largest group that applied for asylum in Mexico during 2021, surpassed only by migrants from Haiti and Honduras, according to the latest report from the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance (Comar).

The number of asylum requests in Mexico almost doubled in 2021 compared to two years earlier. Compared to 2019, the 131 448 applications mark an increase of 86.84 percent, said Comar.