Photos from the dangerous journey to El Norte.
Every year, tens of thousands of people, 90 percent of them Central American, cross the length of Mexico in hopes of reaching the United States. They travel by foot, train, car, bus, or truck, facing kidnapping, extortion, rape, robbery, sickness, hunger, and death along the way. Ecuadorian photographer Felipe Jácome Marchán followed migrants on this perilous journey, documenting the trials and dangers of heading north. And it has only become worse since Mexico ramped up the drug war; in search of easy profits, cartels have started to seize migrants, holding them ransom. As a result of these growing threats, in April Amnesty International called the migrants' route "one of the most dangerous in the world."
Jácome spent five months living in shelters along the route, documenting a constant stream of Central American migrants setting out on the long journey to a better life.
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On the Guatemalan side of the border with Mexico, in the town of Tecún Umán, migrants can rent camaras, makeshift rafts made of wood and old truck inner tubes, for the short trip across the border
There are neither police nor regulations at the border in Guatemala. The Mexican Army patrols the other side, but for a few pesos, they are easily convinced to turn a blind eye. "Everyone takes their cut," Jácome explains. The rafts carry more than just people, he continues, "Drugs, weapons, people -- everything crosses there."
Once in Mexico, the migrants start walking. There used to be train service from the border crossing into the next town, and migrants would hitch a ride on top of the cars. But in 2005, Mexico dismantled the tracks, so migrants now have to trek through dense bush populated by kidnappers and crooks. This man had walked for nine days before he arrived at the first town with a functioning railroad and was sick from having eaten un-ripened fruit.
Catholic priests have set up several shelters for migrants along the route, including this one in the small city of Tapachula. Offering food and sometimes a bed, the shelters welcome migrants for a few nights before newcomers push them out again. A wall map gives migrants a glimpse at the long journey ahead, but many travelers will never make it to the United States.
From Tapachula, most migrants jump aboard a cargo train that travels occasionally up to Arriaga and continues north to Ciudad Ixtepec. Sometimes the train leaves once every few days; sometimes it doesn't come for a week. A man here waits for its arrival. "It is tremendously hot," remembers Jácome.
From Cuidad Ixtepec, the journey north continues. Migrants have already traveled more than 150 miles via raft, on foot, and two trains. But they're still in the very opening stages of a long and arduous trip. Mexican authorities apprehended more than 64,000 people along the route last year, a decrease from previous years but still only a fraction of the total number who attempt to make it to the United States.
Felipe Jácome is a freelance photojournalist based in Quito, Ecuador. Captions by Elizabeth Dickinson, assistant managing editor at Foreign Policy.
Courtesy : Foreign Policy.
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