He was nicknamed “The Beast”, and in fact this name has never been more appropriate: it is a question of a train of death that speeds through US-Mexico border and which annually transports goods of various types, as well as 500,000 people in search of a better future. The train of hope departs from the deep south of Mexico, bordering Guatemalaand reaches the limit that everyone wants to cross: border USA-Mexico.
And right in these footsteps, full of despair, and sometimes death, Las Patronasthose. group of brave women, every day they help a lot of desperate people trying to cross the border and get into the US. How? By doing the most simple and natural thing in the world, that is, offering water and food to everyone who is in trouble. It’s a long and dangerous journey: many from Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, as well as Mexicotravelers are crammed and heaped in the middle of the load, or in the worst case even on the roof, endangering their lives and physical security for entry – illegally – into the US.
Mexican drug cartels control sections of the route: sometimes they seize migrantsin other cases extort money from them. Many of them, unfortunately, die on the way, crammed into these narrow death wagons, with no food and no food. waterfall. And those who do manage to cross the border often face an uncertain future of marginalization and exploitation, given that US immigration policies are highly restrictive.
In response to the inhuman fate that awaits these thousands of women and men, Norma Romero and his mother founded Team “Las Patronas”which reveals the meaning of the word patroness which in Mexican means a woman who inspires respect for her concern for others. Norma, who hails from a village in the state of Veracruz, 300 kilometers from the Mexican capital, has even managed to use her home as a refuge for migrants, offering not only hot food but hope.
Every day, Norma and others—sometimes other volunteers join them—toss bags of food and water, sweets, and fruit juices at those who running trainsready to be snatched up by these desperate passengers. Often many manage to survive thanks to that simple and spontaneous gesture, which has now become custom. In fact, it all started by chance, when Norma, along with her sisters and other women, received a request for help from some migrants while the train was passing.
Hence the idea to “throw” bags of water and food towards the cars. But that’s not all: the residents of the village and shopkeepers began to respond to the migrants’ cry for help, offering to help fill the bags with everything that could be useful for survival as much as possible.
Today the group has grown into an organization of over 25 women. They have a shared kitchen and cook an average of 300 meals a day; little by little their experience self-organization became known throughout the country. And the threats from those who speculate on someone else’s desperation and get rich on it will not take long leather migrants. “We are mothers and peasants, and we protect the rights of migrants, all migrants, regardless of nationality. They are our brothers and sisters.”
Source: Elle