http://www.latimes.com/world/mexico-americas/la-fg-honduran-migrants-mexico-protest-20150310-story.html#
"Honduran migrants, maimed by train, protest their plight" By Tracy Wilkinson [ L.A. Times]
[snipped]FTA:"...“Our visa [to enter the U.S.] is our mutilation, our handicap, our lost arms and legs,” said Jose Luis Hernandez, 29, of Progreso, Honduras. He fell off the train, known here as La Bestia — the Beast... Hernandez said an estimated 700 amputees or migrants with other injuries from the train live in Progreso alone..."[snip]
[snipped]"...The Mexican government has estimated that around 300,000 Central Americans attempt to cross Mexico every year; recently, Hondurans fleeing poverty, violence and political chaos have constituted the largest subset..."
"Their argument is that if the Mexican government would offer free passage across Mexico, migrants would not be forced to ride the dangerous train. In addition to the peril of having to cling to the roof or sides of the lumbering freighter, armed gangs as well as police routinely attack the migrants, stealing money, raping women and sometimes even hurling travelers from the train...Far from offering free passage, however, the government last year launched “Operation Southern Border” which aimed to prevent Central Americans from boarding the train or traveling north through Mexico. Tens of thousands of Central Americans were deported..." [snip]
Maybe we in the US are lucky that our biggest problems with the railroads are the people who trespass, try to beat trains across the crossings, and graffiti artists. Makes one wonder, if these people get here, to this country who is going to pay for their medical needs, and other dependencies?
Um dont KCS and UP run trains down there? So what are the liablity laws like in Mexico? The Mexican Gov can put in tri-weekly passenger service back
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
I can't blame these people for trying to get out of that hell hole. That they would take such crazy risks shows you how bad it must be there.
While I don't want to agree or disagree with the stories in these links, I just want to caution you that the scenes shown may not be related solely to migrants. Can you imagine the crowd at the border if all these people arrived on each train? When I was growing up in Honduras, it was a common sight to see people hitching rides on any vehicle. I remember once when there was a big futbol game in town seeing the passenger train coming into town with a solid row of riders on top of all the cars, looking almost like the pictures I've seen later of trains in India. Trucks, as often as not had a couple of riders in the back. It also was not unusual to see a car go by with one or two riders standing on the rear bumper leaning against the trunk.
One day when I was nine or ten I decided to try it myself. There was a speed bump near our house, and when the car slowed down I hopped onto the rear bumper and assumed the position. In a few seconds as the car accelerated, I decided that it was not a good idea and dismounted. Of course, I got all skinned up on the pavement.
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"A stranger's just a friend you ain't met yet." --- Dave Gardner
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