Migrants Risk Life and Limb to Reach the US on Mexican Train Known as The Beast Jo Tuckman - The Guardian
go to original August 25, 2014

In the city of Mazatlan, immigrants from Central America are chasing trains to travel through Mexico to the United States. (Grassroots News)

TENOSIQUE, Mexico - Crammed into a patch of shade outside their dormitory in a migrant shelter in southern Mexico, a small group of women from Honduras and El Salvador spent much of a recent sweltering afternoon slipping into languid snoozes punctuated by bouts of bawdy banter. It was, they said, the way they gathered strength despite the knowledge that their flight from extreme street gang violence and desperate poverty in their own countries is not only far from over, but looking ever more difficult to complete.

"We can't go back and now we can't go forward either," said Natalia, a Honduran in her 20s, as the conversation turned serious and the smiles faded away. "And every day that passes means more suffering and danger for the families we left behind."

For years, the US border has been notoriously tough to cross. The Mexican leg is notorious for the risk of falling into the hands of criminal gangs such as the Zetas cartel, who rape, murder and demand ransoms from relatives in the US, often with the complicity of officials themselves known for demanding bribes.

However, the fallout from the political furore unleashed in the US by this year's spike in children and families turning up in Texas is adding yet more challenges. This has less to do with US border controls getting even tighter than with the Mexican authorities bowing to US pressure and cracking down as well, according to the migrants in the shelter.

"The hunt is on in Mexico, and we are the prey," said Natalia. "Mexico is doing what the United States wants."

Read the rest at The Guardian

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