Note from Sonia Nazario: This is a compelling editorial by a journalist in El Salvador who has recently spent a lot of time along the rails in Mexico, documenting the situation with Central American migrants there. I found what he wrote, translated here, very compelling. It will give you a sense of how things have deteriorated for migrants traveling through Mexico atop freight trains in recent years.

CENTRAL AMERICA: SEE YOU AT THE NEXT MASSACRE

[Translation of an article from El Faro of El Salvador for August 26. See the original here .]

By Óscar Martínez

I don’t understand the uproar over the 72 migrants Los Zetas assassinated in Mexico. I guess it was because of the number of bodies piled up together, in plain view in the picture from the ranch in San Fernando, Tamaulipas, just across the border from Brownsville, Texas. It’s a worm of corpses rolled up against the wall of a ruined shed in that wilderness in the middle of nowhere, out there at the end of the little dirt road. Some of the corpses had their hands tied behind their backs. Others were lying piled on top of each other, in the parts of the worm that were swollen. I don’t understand the uproar over the massacre of so many migrants.

The big news media, of Mexico, of El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, even of the United States, of Spain and South America, have used their front pages, their important sections, their top news spots, to cover the massacre of migrants in Mexico. I don’t understand the uproar in such big media.

The politicians, the ones from Mexico, from Central America, from Brazil, Ecuador, have rushed to sit in their press conference chairs in front of those media and to apppear later on the front pages. It’s true, not just any politicians. They are the heads of departments, of institutions, of organizations. They are even the presidents themselves of those countries, who have said, as the one from Mexico said, that the perpetrators of the massacre in San Fernando are “animals.” I don’t understand such an uproar by so many importaint politicians.

I don’t understand it because uproar usually follows surprise. I don’t understand it, and if pressed I would say they are faking it. They are putting on those serious expressions, those dry gestures. They are making a show with their ink, with their technology, with their ability to contract a cable news service.

The massacre in San Fernando, Tamaulipas, close, very, very close to the United States, up there where the undocumented have almost arrived, is not surprising. The massacre of San Fernando, where a Central American migrant arrives after more than 20 days of travelling, is just one more event, a shocking one, but just one more. The massacre at San Fernando, up there where a Central American arrives after boarding more than eight trains as a stowaway, was predictable. The massacre of the undocumented in Mexico began in early 2007.

What began once more this week are the press conferences by remorseful officials. What began this week are the big headlines in the media that didn’t know where Tamaulipas was or what the devil an undocumented Central American would be doing in those parts. What began this week is the circus. But that will be over soon. That won’t last many years or many months or even many weeks.

It’s a lie what Alejandro Poiré, secretary of the National Security Council of Mexico and spokesman on matters of organized crime, said yesterday. He said that in the past few months they have gotten information that some criminal organizations participate in kidnapping and extortion of migrants. It’s a lie. They have known it for a long time. The FBI was saying it by the end of 2007. The Human Rights Commission of Mexico was saying it in the middle of last year. They said it very clearly. Their report was titled “Special Report on the Kidnapping of Migrants in Mexico.” It said that close to 10,000 undocumented migrants, mainly Central Americans, had been kidnapped in the last six months alone. It also told the full name, first and last, of that “criminal organization.” It is called “Los Zetas,” it is an organized group that has existed since 1997, which the Gulf Cartel founded, which was born with the recruiting of élite military to train assassins. It also said that Mexican municipal and state officials participated in those kidnappings. It said that they occurred in broad daylight in towns and states that also have names: Tenosique, Tabasco, Coatzacoalcos, Medias Aguas, Tierra Blanca, Veracruz, Ixtepec, Oaxaca, Saltillo, Coahuila, Reynosa, Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas. Tamaulipas. It’s a lie that Poiré and those he speaks for learned of this “a few months ago.” Unos pinches meses, a Mexican would say, a few stinking months.

It’s a lie, as Antonio Díaz, coordinator of advisers for the National Institute for Migration of Mexico, said yesterday, it’s a lie that so far in 2010 they have learned of around seven kidnappings of migrants by ciminal organizations. It’s a lie, because we shared a table on Monday, July 5, at six in the afternoon in the Human Rights Commission in the the Mexican capital. At that table we said that while we were giving our talk there were migrants being kidnapped, and not seven, we said, but hundreds. Hundreds. And he agreed.

It’s a lie that the Central American officials who have spent the day giving press conferences on the massacre are dismayed. And if that dismay is real, it doesn’t matter much. They too have known for a long time. They have quioted us, the members of El Faro who have covered migration in Mexico, to meetings with the foreign offices of El Salvador and Guatemala, with officials of the Sistema de Integración Centroamericana and other agencies. And we said and we presented documents that list hundreds of kidnappings that have occurred for years in those places that have names, by those criminal organizations that have names. Los Zetas. We told them it was a humanitarian crisis, that it was a massacre, that it should be told at the highest levels and when they shook our hands and said goodbye, they said that they believed us, that they really believed us, and that they were outraged, horrified.

And now they will say, at least those from El Salvador will say, that they have set up two new consulates. That is true. One is in Arriaga and the other is in Acayucan. But it’s a lie that they think that that is a solution. They do not believe it or what they told us was a lie. They said yes, they understood our argument that a consulate is more an administrative office than an office concerned with those other cases, the cases of massacres, of kidnappings, of rapes. They also said they believed it was at the highest levels that voices had to be raised, that this did not require a shout from a vice-chancellor for Salvadorans overseas, but from a president, from many presidents, who see how the migrants are assassinated in their attempts to reach the United States.

It’s a lie, so many headlines in so many important media are a lie because they have sent no one permanenetly to watch over this constant massacre. It’s a lie because they still believe that the lady who successfully opened apupusería in Los Angeles deserves the same coverage in their pages on migration as a kidnaping, or rapes, or mutilations. Or rather the coverage they give the press conferences where these kidnappings, rapes, mutilations, are talked about. Because when it comes to getting muddy, they only mddy up their front pages with ink, never their boots or their reporters, because they don’t want to muddy up their wallets.

If they were only to get muddy, if they were to leave their conferences, if they stopped agreeing when they say they believe something only later to do nothing. If they were only to stop lying. They would know that from Tamaulipas Los Zetas control an entire system of kidnapping of Central Americans. They would know that Los Zetas infiltrate groups of Central Americans on the trains to find the migrants who have families in the United States, those they can beat 500, 800, 1,000 or even 5,000 dollars out of in quick kidnappings. They would know that in every estaca (and they would know that Los Zeta command posts are called estacas) there is a butcher (and they would know that the butchers are men who cut up migrants no one answers for into small pieces and put them in barrels and burn them). They would know that there are dozens of ranches in Mexico like the San Fernando ranch and that there are corpses buried in many of them. They would know that in San Fernando there are no journalists who write about Los Zetas (nor in Tenosique, or in Medias Aguas, or Orizaba, not in Tierra Blanca, or in Saltillo, and they would also know where those places are) because they kill them. They would know that from Tamaulipas Los Zetas have controlled the routes of the coyotes since 2007. They would know that those who don’t pay die and that even though they don’t see the corpses they are there.

You are not surprised, none of you. You have raised this uproar to appear surprised. You are liars. You will once again forget about a massacre that began in 2007. For you there is only one way of saying good-bye: I’ll see you at the next massacre.

Parade Magazine: What Freshman Are Reading Fall 2010

Maria Hinojosa Public Television Interview

Here's a link to a lovely interview done by Maria Hinojosa's One on One on PBS. It just aired in Boston and will likely run on other public television stations around the country later this year.

CALLING ALL ATTORNEYS

Six months ago I joined the board of directors of KIND, or Kids in Need of Defense, an organization begun by Microsoft and Angelina Jolie to help immigrant children gain legal representation.

So this is a shout out to any and all attorneys who are readers of Enrique’s Journey to help KIND!

About 8,000 children come to the U.S. each year without a parent or guardian from countries other than Mexico and are placed in U.S. custody. Most are caught at the border. They are fleeing abuse, torture, persecution, or extreme hardship and poverty. Some are victims of trafficking. Others come, as Enrique did, to be with a parent who left them behind.

Today, in what KIND and I believe is a shameful situation, more than half of these children go through immigration proceedings without a lawyer. That’s because U.S. immigration law doesn’t require that children have lawyers in immigration court.

“It is unacceptable that we allow children—some as young as toddlers—to go through complex and often adversarial immigration proceedings without the help of a lawyer,” says KIND Executive Director Wendy Young. “Many children who have viable claims for US protection are unable to present their claims to an immigration judge without help and are returned to their home country where their well-being, or even their lives, may be in danger. Children who are represented are three times more likely to obtain immigration relief, which can literally be lifesaving for this vulnerable population.”

I witnessed myself, in the course of reporting Enrique’s Journey, children who were eight or nine years old going before an immigration judge to defend their rights with no help and no attorney. KIND’s Wendy Young has seen cases where babies were carried into court to face judges without lawyers.

KIND’s solution? To get pro-bono attorneys around the country to volunteer to represent a child. The organization’s staff of 15 train and mentor these lawyers in six locations around the country on how to handle these cases. They support them all along the way. So far, they have obtained the commitment of 60 law firms, and trained 900 attorneys. These lawyers are now representing more than 700 children from 31 countries. The organization is funded by foundations, corporations, private donors, and law firms around the country. Also, A T & T, Marathon Oil, and Royal Bank of Canada are corporate partners.

I gave a talk for KIND to attorneys from Troutman Sanders in Orange County, California, this year. I listened to attorneys who had volunteered their time representing a child talk about how incredibly rewarding it was for them.

So if you work as an attorney in Los Angeles, Houston, Washington DC, Baltimore, Newark or New York City, KIND has local offices and can help you represent one of these children. If you are an attorney elsewhere, let KIND know you are willing to help if a child that needs representation is in your city or area. If you are a university law school, offer to have your students help KIND.

For more information here is KIND’s website: www.supportkind.org

If you want to get involved, email me at sonia@sonianazario.com, and I’ll get you linked in to the right person.

FRESHMAN READS AND LESSONS FROM STUDENTS

President Obama has said that he will bring up immigration reform next year, promising for a lively debate in the middle of an economic recession.

I heard many sides of that debate this fall as I journeyed to 22 places across the U.S. to speak about Enrique's Journey and immigration. I wanted to share some of the wonderful things that happened as part of my travels.

For one, I was able to see Olga Sanchez Martinez, the woman who began a shelter for migrants mutilated by trains in Chiapas, Mexico. Olga had been nominated by Lorri Barra and her mother-in-law, writer Isabel Allende, for the Dalai Lama award. Olga came to San Francisco to receive the award. It was wonderful to hear about how she had been able to build

a new shelter, and how readers of Enrique's Journey had helped her fund that endeavor. She prayed that readers would continue to help. Olga, Isabel and I spoke together at the San Domenico school in Marin County about migrants and immigration.

The second very moving experience this fall was going to Laredo, Texas. I had been in

Laredo twice to report Enrique's Journey. This time I was returning because the city had

chosen Enrique's Journey for its "one city, one book read."

I could never have imagined the enthusiasm and warmth with which I was received. At the

airport, four ladies greeted me. One was the high school librarian (Carmen Escamilla),

two were English teachers (Annie Trevino and Beverly Herrera), and the fourth was the local

bookseller (Mary Benavides). They came in a stretch white limo with disco lights inside!

For two days, these wonderful book-lovers and I cruised the city. They hustled me from one

venue to another, and at the end of my brief time in Laredo I had spoken to about 4,000 people.

This in a city of some 200,000. It was overwhelming--and wonderful.

Before arriving, I had pre-signed stickers for 1,500 books. And yet as I spoke to high school

students, many wanted me to sign their book a second time. Hundreds wanted to take a

photograph with me. I remember in particular one boy, who came up with his class for a group

shot. He is blind. His classroom aide asked if I could sign his book again. "Look Cruz, what she

wrote in your book," the aide told Cruz. He started crying. Then, the aide started crying. I

nearly burst out crying.

Many of the students told me it was the first time they had seen themselves, or something

of their experiences, in a book. Many teachers told me what I had often heard among those who

teach predominantly Latino students--tht these students would read this book when they

were generally not interested in reading.Why? They saw themselves in the book.

My second night in the city, the civic center was packed with 1,000 people. Folks waited

in line for well over an hour for me to sign their book. Many offered me their well wishes. One

woman gave me a silver rosary.

Many people in Laredo told me that before the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1847 they had been one city with those across the Rio Grande. When the U.S. told folks on the north side of the river to choose, many who had lived in Laredo for generations dug up their dead and headed south of the river. Despite that division, many in Laredo, Texas and Nuevo Laredo, Mexico have thought of themselves as one people. Increasingly, people told me, the crack-down on the border has shattered that and divided families. So has the violence that has infested Nuevo Laredo. An educator, himself Mexican, who worked at a college in Laredo told me he had not crossed the bridge into Nuevo Laredo in three years because of fears of kidnapping.

My visit ended with a lovely dinner in Nuevo Laredo with the mayors of Nuevo Laredo and Laredo. I had requested that Padreo Leonado Lopez Guajardo "Padre Leo" be invited. It was wonderful to see him as well, although I was dismayed to hear that he had been pushed out of his job running the migrant shelter he worked so hard to build and open in Nuevo Laredo. He told me that other priests had been brought in who were disciplined in running an organization. But other sources at the dinner told me Padre Leo had proved to be a little bit too much or a radical for Mexico's Catholic church. Padre Leo continues to do work with prisoners in Nuevo Laredo, and prays that some day he will be able to return to working with migrants.

This fall I also went to speak in Iowa, and again saw Carmen Ferrez, the woman who once cleaned my house in Los Angeles but now lives in Iowa. She was the one who gave me the idea for my book. We spoke together at Central College in Pella, Iowa, and it was difficult to hear Carmen talk about how the separation from her children created so much resentment in her children. Carmen clearly said she regretted the decision she made to leave her children behind.

As she put it, "If I knew then what I know now, I would never have left them," in Guatemala. "This has destroyed my family."

Finally, I wanted to give a brief update on Enrique and Lourdes and their family. This year, Lourdes returned to Honduras for her first visit since leaving in 1989. For the first time, she was able to see her three year old grandson, Belky's son, Yaseth.

She told me she is depressed about the state of Honduras. She said things seem to be worse than ever. There are so many young children, ages four and five, selling fruit and other items as they scurry between lanes of traffic. Lourdes told me this wasn't the case when she left Honduras. Yes, Enrique was by her side as she sold items from a box on the sidewalks of Tegucigalpa, but he was playing, not working. She is disgusted by the corruption in her country, and the rampant poverty.

In November, Lourdes' mother died. She had been taking care of the three children of Lourdes' sister, Mirian. As I recounted in Enrique's Journey, Mirian had left her children in 2003 to come and work in the U.S. Like most mothers who leave their children, Mirian had planned to be gone for a short time--one year. Lourdes tells me she plans to return to Honduras in February, now that the only one left to take care of Mirians' children is Belky. Lourdes told me that so far Mirian's children haven't voiced any resentment over their mother being gone so long (and so much longer than she promised). Lourdes quickly adds, however, that the resentment might well surface when Mirian returns to them.

Recently, I chatted with Jasmin, Enrique's daughter, on the telephone. She has an incredibly sweet voice. I'm told she looks just like Enrique and that she is doing well.

Finally, a little update about myself. I have been spending a lot of time this fall on the road, but have also begun work on my second book for Random House. It is due in three years.

It's been very gratifying to see how Enrique's Journey has been embraced by so many countries. It has now been published in nine languages around the world. The last to come on board is Poland. It's exciting to see it coming out in the country that my mother left as a seven year old girl as she and her family fled poverty and the anti-Jewish sentiments tide that was swelling in the years preceeding World War II.

Lastly, I wanted to share something I wrote recently for Random House for colleges considering my book

for freshman orall-campus reads. They asked me to share how the book had been received on

these campuses.

Here it is......

Sonia Nazario talks about her experiences when writing her book Enrique's Journey to a

packed Ardrey Auditorium on Wednesday. Chad Sexton / The Lumberjack

(Note: This was taken as I spoke to 1100 students at Northern Arizona University)

President Obama has vowed that in 2010, he will put immigration reform on the front

burner. That means that student discussions around Enrique’s Journey, already made

freshman read by 27 colleges and universities, will no doubt become heated as this national

debate resumes.

In the fall of 2009 alone, I traveled to nearly 20 colleges and universities to talk

with students about Enrique’s Journey. Institutions in Ohio, Florida, Minnesota, Arizona

and North Carolina used the book for their freshman read.

These visits led to incredibly interesting and moving encounters with students.

There was the 53-year-old grizzled man, with a large gray beard, who tapped my shoulder

before my talk at Idaho State University in Pocatello. “I’ve never read a book cover to cover,”

he told me. “This is the first one. I couldn’t put it down.” Two students at University of North

Carolina, Greensboro told me the same thing, producing pride-- and horror. All three times I

said, “That’s great. Now read some more books! Do you want some suggestions?”

Students have different responses to my book. Many non-Latino students tell me they had

no real concept of the poverty that pushes many migrants out of places like Honduras. They say

they find the story of what Enrique and other migrant children are willing to do to reach the

U.S. not only moving, but instructive. Many tell me that the book and class discussions have

forced them to re-evaluate the values they were raised with about immigrants. Then they give

the book to their parents to read, and the real discussions begin.

Students often say the book prompts them to view their new neighbors in a different

light. One African-American student in Chicago told me how her grandmother had moved

from Mississippi to Illinois and left her children behind, an experience common among

African-American women leaving the South. She said the book gave her a deeper bond with

people south of the border.

Often Mexican-American students tell me they have a better understanding of the tensions

between Mexicans and Central Americans in the U.S. The hostilities stem, they realize, from

what many Central Americans have gone through crossing Mexico on their way to the U.S.

The most moving responses, however, are from Latino students who say this is the first

book where they could see some glimmer of their own lives and experiences. They—or

someone in their family—made the journey to the U.S. on top of freight trains, or were

separated from parents in the process of coming to the U.S.

Immigrant students—whether from China, Russia, or Poland—told me they lived these

separations as well.

Often, when they recount their experiences, they are crying.

Perhaps the most moving of my trips this fall was to the city of Laredo, Texas, a town of

200,000 where in two days I spoke to a total of 4,000 people. At the civic center, people stood

in line for well over an hour for me to sign their books. Many students told me that they, too,

wanted to become writers.

At Towson University in Maryland, two women recounted very personal stories after my

talk. One mother, sobbing, said she had left a daughter behind in central america. The other

student said she had been separated from both parents in the process of coming to the U.S.

Finally, a male student, Gerardo, spoke about coming north with his mother from El Salvador.

Part of the journey was atop freight trains in Mexico. He spoke of his terror as a boy crossing

the Rio Grande with a mother who didn’t know how to swim.

What has been most promising is to see students’ clear desire to act to try to alleviate the

situation I describe in Enrique’s Journey. As one UNC-Greensboro student put it so beautifully,

when the U.S. decided to put a man on the moon, they said it would take 10 years. It actually

took just eight years. Some of the astronauts on that moon mission were 18 years old when

the commitment by the U.S. was first made. “I’m 18,” he told me. “If we can put a man on the

moon in less than 10 years, surely we can make progress in helping to create jobs in Latin

America in the next decade.” He planned to get involved.

Another student at Greensboro had chosen to volunteer at a local Latino organization

three times a week.

Some choose to help the heroes I describe in my book. At Whittier College, one class

raised $1000 for Olga Sanchez Martinez, a woman who runs a shelter in Mexico for migrants

mutilated by the trains. Moved by his students’ generosity, the professor matched the amount.

Others have taken to heart the idea that the only true solution to this migration is to

create jobs in places like Mexico and Honduras so fewer mothers feel forced to leave their

children. Some students demand that their college cafeterias buy fair trade coffee, so coffee

farmers and pickers in Latin America receive a living wage. Others have hooked up with

various microloan organizations I describe on my website, www.enriquesjourney.com, that

have proven track records in helping to create jobs for women in Central America and Mexico.

Some take a more personal approach. At Sonoma State, one woman said the book inspired

her to take her vacation working with migrants on the U.S.-Mexico border. One staff member

at an Illinois university said the book prompted her to quit her job and start a café in Honduras,

where she now employed 10 people.

Some universities have encouraged further and deeper study. At Gustavus Adolphus

College in Minnesota, administrators were planning a spring trip for students to the border

to spend time with migrants in the shelter in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, where Enrique had been

during his journey north.

The woman who administers the freshman read program at Northern Arizona University

said they had chosen my book for many reasons.

It appealed to male and female students. The protagonist is close to the students’ age.

The book, she said, is a compelling read that broadens students’ awareness of cultures not their

own. It is about a hot current issue.

The university liked that Enrique’s Journey addressed certain themes: survival,

community, education, family, diversity, racism, violence, drugs, redemption, foreign relations,

politics, and the immigration issue. They also liked that it touches on emotions some first

year students might be dealing with, such as loneliness, connection to family, and the

temptation to succumb to violence and drugs.

What I have enjoyed most about my discussions at these universities is that it has taken a

highly polarizing issue, an important issue, and forced students to see it in a nuanced way.

Because for me, even as we head into renewed and heated debates about immigration, this is

an issue with many shades of gray.

Germany, immigration, and walls.....

On June 11, I went to speak in Berlin about Enrique’s Journey and immigration at a conference that looked in part at family issues and migrants. There are many women who have come to work in Germany from Romania and Poland. They come to work in eldercare or cleaning, and often leave their children behind. The more I travel, the more I see how this is a growing worldwide phenomenon of women migrating to work and leaving their children behind.

Germany and the U.S. in recent decades have both been top destinations for immigrants. Germany has seen its foreign-born population surge from 1.2% in 1960 to 9% today. Compared to the U.S., a greater proportion of Germany’s migrants are legal. As a member of the European Union, Germany allows migrants from most of the EU’s 27 member countries to work within its borders legally.

 In some ways, Germany has handled immigration in different ways than the U.S. It has traditionally been more resistant to newcomers. For example, until 2000, it did not automatically grant citizenship to children born in Germany whose parents were from other countries. Now, children born in Germany automatically become citizens if one parent has been a legal resident for at least eight years. Until 2000, these children were treated as foreigners in a legal sense.

 Still, like the U.S., Germany welcomed in huge numbers of migrants during strong economic times when laborers were needed (guest workers from Spain, Italy, Greece, Portugal, Yugoslavia, and later Turkey in the 1950s, 60s and up until 1973.) And it has been less welcoming in times of economic contraction. Like the U.S., Germany brought guest workers in expecting them to go home after one or two year contracts. Like the U.S., many of those guest workers overstayed their contracts and never went home. (In 1983 Germany offered them economic incentives to leave, but few did).

 Some Germans say these immigrants do jobs Germans don’t want to do, and that with very low birthrates (most Germans have one child) migrants are needed to keep Germany’s population from declining.

 Yet there is also a strong anti-immigrant movement in Germany, and heated discussions about the lack of integration by the country’s huge Turkish population, particularly among older generations born in Turkey. Two thirds of Turks keep their own nationality, and only 1 in 20 marry a non-Turk. In Stuttgart, the government has developed model programs to try and better integrate migrants.

One of the most interesting things about the visit was to see the Berlin wall.

I often say that the only wall that has seemingly worked to halt migration was the Berlin wall (it was up between 1961 and 1989). Even the Great Wall of China didn’t keep out Mongol nomads, which was its original intent. To “work” you need shoot to kill orders, which is what made the Berlin wall so effective. And yet during those years some 400,000 people migrated from East to West Germany. Several hundred were killed, but many more got out.

It was fascinating to see the remnants of the wall. Before, in some parts of Berlin, there were three walls. If you got past one, you still had to get past the others. In between the three walls there were guard dog runs, watchtowers with snipers, and minefields. Over the years, the East Germans perfected the wall until it was nearly impenetrable.

Here are photos I took of portions of the wall that remain and a watchtower.

The other fascinating thing to see as an author was Bebel plaza, in front of Humbolt University in Berlin, where Hitler had tens of thousands of books deemed "un-German" burned in a huge bonfire in 1933. It reminded me of a terrible day in the 1970s when I was a teenager in Argentina. The so-called "Dirty War" was beginning in that country. The military would ultimately "disappear" tens of thousands of people in Argentina. I remember in an abundance of caution joining my mother as we burned books in our backyard that might be deemed objectionable--Alice and Wonderland and books by Sigmund Freud.  Standing in Bebel plaza reminded me of the role ignorance plays in repression. 

It's been an amazing few months as I've travelled around the country speaking--mostly at universities and conferences--about Enrique's Journey. I'll post soon about where I've been and stories readers have told me about how the book has prompted them to act. 

Sonia