A journey full of dreams

More than 6,000 Central American immigrants have embarked on caravans with the purpose of getting to the United States-Mexico border and achieving the American Dream.

Despite many migrants joining the caravans, many others opted to do the same, only in fewer numbers and before the caravans started their journey.

One of them is a teenager from El Salvador who told The Rider he entered the country illegally, after leaving his home country in early October.

“I came from El Salvador … in kind of a caravan, but just paying buses, paying trailers, paying all that,” the teenager said in Spanish.

The 19-year-old crossed the U.S.-Mexico border 27 days ago and is working in mainly temporary construction jobs.

“I work mostly in concrete,” he said. “That’s the job I know how to do best. But since I haven’t found a concrete company, I work in ceramics. I’ve been doing sheetrock, the insulation I do everything.”

Like many Central Americans, the young Salvadoran said one of the main reasons he decided to emigrate from his country was the current economic situation of El Salvador.

“One thing is the economic situation …” he said. “The other are the gangs. You can’t live in a neighborhood because in one neighborhood … [there] is the “18” and in the other one is the MS[-13], known as the “Mara Salvatrucha.” … If you get out of your neighborhood and go to the city, the enemy gang can kill you. Therefore, there is no security in the country.”

The teenager explained that, due to his age, he faces more danger in his country.

“Over there, between the police and the criminals, they fight each other and … since I am 19 years old, if they see me in the street, they think I am a gang member and they beat me, and they even take you to the river to kill you.”

All of the teenager’s siblings reside in the U.S. Regarding his parents, they still live in El Salvador since they are not in as much danger.

“They are not in danger,” he said. “Since they are old, they are not at risk. They can go wherever they want to. It’s just us young people, from 15 to 35, who are in danger over there.”

Asked if it is true that gangs in El Salvador force people to join the gangs, he replied, “Yes, that is true. If you don’t want to join the gang, they don’t tell you anything. However, after a month or so, they kill you. They just want you to freely go out and then when you go out … they kidnap you and then they kill you.”

Like hundreds, if not thousands, of migrants who travel through Mexico to get to the U.S., the teenager from El Salvador had to hop aboard “La Bestia” or “The Beast” when he was in Puebla, Mexico. “La Bestia” is a cargo train that travels across Mexico from the southern border to the U.S. border.

“It is a little bit risky, but anyways, one wants to be here, one has to work hard, look forward and not look back,” the teenager said. “One comes here for a better life because in our countries, I don’t know if you realize, it is more dangerous over there because of the gangs and all that. That is why people come from over there.”

The young Salvadoran explained to The Rider that, while he was in Mexico City, a group of men tried to kidnap him. However, he was able to escape by blending in with another group of Honduran migrants that was passing by.

After boarding “La Bestia,” riding passenger buses, walking and asking for rides, the teenager made it to Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico, where he stayed for several days in abandoned houses or any place where he could to stay for the night.

“I arrived to the Matamoros border and while being in the Matamoros border, I had to pay the “maña,” which is how they call it, like the cartel, so that they would let me cross to this side. Once in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, I paid the $300 and then I was able to swim across the river.”

He explained he had to pay the Cártel del Golfo, the organized crime group that controls Matamoros, just to be allowed to move around the city and to cross the Rio Grande and then get to Brownsville.

“You have to pay them just to ask for permission to cross the city,” he said. “Once we pay them, let’s say the ‘fee’ … then you can cross to come here and there is no problem.”

The people who do not pay the “fee” are usually kidnapped to extort money from their families, according to the teenager.

“When one wants to cross normally, without paying, they beat you with a wood plank that they call ‘entablillado,’” the teenager said. “But since I paid and everything … thank God, I am here.”

He explained he crossed the border between Matamoros and Brownsville near the area of the Brownsville & Matamoros International Bridge, colloquially known as the “old bridge,” or “puente viejo.”

“I crossed near that area, through an open gate [in the fence],” he said. “It was open and I was able to get in but … once I was on this side, they chased me, but they didn’t catch me because I hid under a car and they were not able to find me, [the Border Patrol]. …  A Mexican guy helped … and brought me here since I was lost and didn’t know where to go to.”

The young Salvadoran said he lost several of his belongings when trying to escape from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents, including personal documents and papers that contained directions and coordinates that were supposed to help him find his way after he crossed the border.

Asked about the migrant caravans that are traveling through Mexico, he replied, “To be careful and everything will be all right, God willing. I hope they work hard and that, God willing, they get to wherever they want to get.”

He also said that it is not correct for people to use violence to enter a country.

“That’s wrong because they shouldn’t be like that,” the teenager said. “If Mexico allows them, then they can enter, but they shouldn’t be hitting others. … Mexicans are not to blame … for the crime that happens in our countries. It’s like if Mexicans would want to enter our countries just like that. We are not going to like it.”

He advises Central Americans to not use violence when they arrive at the border.

“I advise my Central American brothers to not use violence,” he said. “If the United States wants to help them, then thank God, but if not, they should not use violence since, as you know, the United States is a country that, if you attack its people, they attack you back.”

Regarding the caravans of thousands of migrants that left El Salvador two weeks ago, he said, “God bless them in their journey, because, to be honest, it is somewhat hard, even more if children are coming. Sometimes one has to bear hunger for a whole day, or day and a half. It is not until the train stops that you can eat.”

Despite everything he had to go through, he describes his journey from El Salvador to the U.S. as “an adventure because one goes places and meets people.

The Salvadoran teenager will be in Brownsville for a couple of weeks until he gets enough money to migrate to the north of the U.S. and meet his siblings.