INTERNATIONAL: Mexican armed forces have clashed with a group of mostly Cuban, Central American, Venezuelan and Haitian migrants who were waiting for migratory documents in the southern city of Tapachula on Tuesday ,February 22.

Migrants have said that a Mexican Migration Institute (INM) officer has appeared outside his agency's offices and dropped on the floor documents that would grant them safe passage through the country.

"You saw our papers scattered on the ground...as if we were dogs," Cuban migrant Yanni has said. "We were talking to the INM officer, he has passed through and threw the papers on the ground without any explanations."

Another Cuban migrant, Tony, has said that the INM officers have denied documents to around 2,000 Haitian migrants.

Tension between the Mexican National Guard and migrants in Tapachula has increased because many migrants have remained in the city for several months waiting for their legal documents.

Tens of thousands of migrants flee their home countries each year in an attempt to reach the United States, but many of them also seek refuge and protection in Mexico.

In early February, Mexico's National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) urged immigration authorities to speed up the processes that would help nearly 2,000 migrants at the southern border get documents to regularise their stay in Mexico or let them travel through the country without being detained.