Geo-sociology on the back of a bus, or at school...

"DON'T BE ONE MORE FIGURE! 

In the last 6 months there were: 

269 dead, 33140 deported, 385,357 arrested 

and 70% of women were sexually assaulted. 

DON'T TRAVEL ILLEGALLY TO THE NORTH"

(campaign funded by the US)

From Africa and the Middle East they migrate to Europe, from South and Central America, and in great numbers from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, they look for a future, and/or a way of out of gang violence, in the States. Not only the chances of finding a good life are slim, as living as an undocumented migrant is not easy at all, but the journey itself is extremely hard, probably nearly as dangerous as crossing the Mediterranean on an overcrowded inflatable dingy: lead by reckless agents called coyotes they cross Mexico avoiding all formal ways and means of transport, resorting even to long walks, all the way at the mercy of criminals who prey on these desperate people. As the picture above shows quite clearly, the stats are grim... 

We saw other discouraging posters at the Mexican border, but we found the figures on these particularly strong and it's significant to see this subject brought so close to the real battleground, to the streets of the city, as the message reflects the reality of the lower classes of Guatemala City: the dream, the only future they see, is to leave. Mostly everyone has a family member, neighbour or friend who's living or has lived in the States and characters like the coyotes are nothing far from people's lives either: one Monday morning at school a child told Mattia a coyote was at his house the previous evening, not because his family was planning to leave, but rather because the man was a dear friend of his dad (who, by the way, lived years in the States) and not just a friend: in the past his dad helped him out with the job, getting some good amount of money, by driving people all through Guatemala, from El Salvador to the Mexican border, where they would swim to the other side (across the river we crossed on a bridge walking with our bags just a month ago - see "photo-tales" a few posts below). 

So, what's the reaction to all this? Let's keep that for a future post...