Photo: Margarito Diaz
They tried to keep us from leaving Honduras. We did not have our country’s departure orders signed. We came and stayed captured in the middle between the two borders, Guatemala and Honduras. We couldn’t return and we couldn’t stay.
It was a tragedy. They closed all sources of food, dining rooms. All through Guatemala we got no help, we stayed in the streets. I didn’t sit down or sleep. They didn’t let us go through. There were too many people. They pushed us in the river.
At 12 midnight, we broke through to the Guatemalan zone and entered Guatemala. Walking on foot, 300 of us arrived at Chiquimula, and there, there were another thousand people.
We kept walking and then there were about 6,000, a line of people all along the road.
I was separated from the caravan because there were too many people. I went above and around to the other side. There were 500 people there. Helicopters were flying over us. We all got back together in Chiapas. We only walked at first. I lost 30 pounds on the way.
In México, there were buses – 9 hours in one bus, 16 hours in another. They only stopped for us to go to the bathroom and buy food at the stands.
Everywhere is dangerous – Veracruz, Querétaro. … We couldn’t stay one second in Chihuahua. They told us [that in] Chihuahua there was a lot of discrimination and lot of racism. We had to avoid Sonora also. “Very right-wing,” they told us.
From the beginning in México, the decision was to go straight to Tijuana. They told us that it was the longer but safer way.
Everything smells political to me.
A special joint edition of the Tribuno del Pueblo and People’s Tribune
From the editors
Tribuno del Pueblo and People’s Tribune sent correspondents to the U.S-Mexico border at San Ysidro-Tijuana to bring our readers the voices of the migrant caravan that left Central America last October and reached Tijuana, Mexico in December.
The toxic combination of U.S. corporate political and economic policies, cartel violence, the destruction of their crops due to climate change and the corruption of their own government is forcing thousands of working people to leave Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala.
We’ve gathered the stories of the migrants and of the first responders in the battle against the wall and for human rights in this special issue. We thank all those who shared their stories and gave us their time, generosity and inspiration.
Our responsibility as faith-based activists, workers and human rights warriors is to do everything in our power to make sure that our government respects and upholds the human rights of the migrants. Our responsibility as human beings is to open our arms and welcome our sisters and brothers, just as others did before us.
No human being is illegal.
