Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 31 July 2019

Fear, bribes, gangs, coyotes: A Guatemalan's trek to the US

By MARÍA VERZA tacos" that change each
Associated Press week.
MONTERREY, Mexico (AP) In Monterrey the family also
— René, a 35-year-old man began to see armed men
from Guatemala, stretched among the smuggling op-
and paced inside a Tijuana eration, though at the safe
warehouse as he awaited house where they stayed
word that it was time for with about 200 others, half
a three-day hike into Cali- children, things weren't
fornia through the nearby scary.
mountains. "They gave you breakfast,
It would be his second at- lunch and dinner," René
tempt to cross the border said. "We were just resting,
illegally in a little over a and they put the TV on with
month. Nearly $20,000 in cartoons for the children."
debt to a series of "coy- After three days they were
otes," or smugglers, he fig- taken to a shopping center
ured if he made it, it would where the safe house boss
take two years to pay off. talked with some police of-
If caught and deported, it ficers. Five vehicles carry-
could take 15 years — if the ing 12 people each left in
gangs back home don't kill a caravan, escorted by a
him first. patrol car at the front and
Responding to a wave of another at the rear. After a
Central American migrants while, armed cartel mem-
and asylum seekers reach- bers replaced the police.
ing the U.S. border in re- That was the scariest
cent months, the United This July 24, 2019 photo courtesy of Guatemalan migrant Lucia shows her husband Rene with their stretch. Kids were told to
States and Mexico have 7-year-old daughter and 11-year-old son, as they walk in search of a place to sleep in Monter- keep low because of the
tried to stem the flow, slow rey, Mexico. danger of gunfire.
the pace at which people Associated Press "Rifles everywhere, all of
are allowed to request asy- them high on drugs," René
lum and discourage others that they were going on a gration. dled by new smugglers said. "The children and ev-
from coming. But tens of fun trip when they left Gua- They were stopped twice, who had planned to bus eryone got scared."
thousands are still heading temala City June 20. But but no matter: The smug- them to the northern city of Military vehicles appeared
north fleeing violence and problems began straight- gler handed each person Monterrey. But a new law and gave chase until the
poverty. away when a smuggler 2,000 pesos (about $100) bars bus companies from smugglers managed to
In the 40 days since he they paid $1,300 never to fork over and reminded selling tickets without prop- hide on a private ranch.
left home, René stayed showed up. them what to say to the er IDs. So the group of eight The final destination in Mex-
at cramped safe houses, A second one in Malacat- agents. was sent by taxi to the city's ico was the border city of
walked miles of treacherous an, near Mexico, seemed "You have to beg them outskirts, where the coyotes Ciudad Miguel Aleman in
terrain and rode in a mini- more trustworthy. He had and tell them you're travel- stopped a bus and they Tamaulipas, a state where
van as soldiers gave chase. taken a cousin previously ing alone" without a coy- got on. government officials say
He paid bribes at check- and charged them $5,000 ote, René said. "More than "They paid the driver," René half the country's human
points, watched smugglers for each adult-child "pack- anything, they like it if you said. "It seemed like they smuggling passes through.
deal with crooked cops age," standard these days humiliate yourself." knew him, because here They were held with 148
and huddled fearfully un- for parents who travel with They continued that way everybody is in the same people in a three-bedroom
der armed guard in the minors and plan to turn to the Gulf coast state of racket. Everyone asks for home. René knows the ex-
heart of cartel country. themselves in in the U.S. It's Veracruz. Rather than mak- money." act number because han-
René is the man's middle about double that to cross ing a beeline north in the Bus terminals in the north dlers did a headcount and
name. The Associated Press clandestinely. most direct route to Texas, are full of cartel lookouts. scribbled it in a notebook.
is withholding his full identity They began with four oth- they turned west. Just be- Sometimes they just keep Outside temperatures were
for his safety because he is ers on an eight-hour walk fore Puebla, to skirt check- an eye on comings and over 100 degrees Fahren-
still en route and because around the Tacana vol- points, they got out for a goings. But other times they heit (40 degrees Celsius).
his story details what is big cano, crossing into Mex- six-hour walk across coun- will brazenly ask migrants They had to sleep sitting
business for smuggling net- ico at one of what the tryside muddied by the where they're from and up and were forbidden to
works, gangs that run the country says are over 350 rainy season, falling down whether they have rela- make noise.
territory in which they op- "blind spots" on its 750-mile frequently. tives in the United States, René tried to cheer up the
erate and authorities who (1,200-kilometer) south- "I threw myself and the kids demanding to review so- children by saying they
are often on the take. ern border, a jungle and down where it was sort of cial media profiles to see were going to meet their
René's trek of more than mountain region difficult or like a slide and told them whether they'd be worth grandmother, who lives in
3,000 miles (5,000 kilome- impossible to secure. it was an adventure, and kidnapping for ransom — the United States.
ters) so far is just one of In Chiapas state, a wait- they laughed," René said. an ordeal René's family Eight days later, a radio
many possible routes and ing minibus took them a "Only my wife and I bore was spared. message said the coast
outcomes. But all have el- few miles (kilometers) up the difficulty and the fear." In those northern bus ter- was clear. A relative back
ements in common: fear, the road, where they met In Mexico City, they spent minals, those who've hired home deposited the fi-
corruption and cartel in- another minibus. The lat- four nights in a 13-by-13- smugglers are given codes nal payment to the smug-
volvement. Increasingly ter drove ahead to detect foot (4-by-4-meter) safe to identify themselves to glers and they were rowed
too, children are making checkpoints, since Mexico house with a single door, the coyote at the next han- across the Rio Grande in 10
the treacherous journey. has boosted police, military no windows and dozens of dover point — numbers or minutes and turned them-
René and his wife told their and national guard in the other people. phrases like "I brought the selves in on Texas soil. They
daughter, 7, and son, 11, area to crack down on mi- They were now being han- black pearls" or "portion of thought they'd made it.q