I Woke Up and My Arm and Leg Were Missing: Victims of the Beast Speak Out Jan-Albert Hootsen - Vocativ
go to original May 6, 2014

A group of wounded migrants. (Voctiv/Jan-Albert Hootsen)

MEXICO CITY — Honduran José Luis Hernández has little to smile about. His mutilated body, which is missing an arm, a leg and three fingers on his remaining hand, offers him few promises of a brighter future. He is a victim of the “Beast,” a massive freight train that every week carries thousands of Central Americans seeking their way to the United States, where they plan to settle illegally.

The Beast is both their greatest hope and their greatest enemy: It’s their best bet at escaping the poverty and crime of their home countries, but dozens of migrants are killed or maimed each week in accidents on the tracks, while bandits and corrupt law enforcement officials lurk along the way.

Mexico has traditionally lambasted the United States for its stringent immigration policies, accusing its northern neighbor of criminalizing Mexicans looking for work without the proper paperwork by tightening border security. Successive Mexican governments have also condemned perceived abuses by the U.S. Border Patrol.

But Mexico has its own grave domestic issues with migration, especially when it comes to the hundreds of thousands of Central Americans crossing the country to reach the U.S. “The journey through Mexico is the most dangerous in the world,” Hernández says. “Thousands of people are killed, maimed and kidnapped each year. And the Mexican government does next to nothing to solve it.”

Read the rest at Vocativ

We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!