72 Migrantes #39 – Final Version – Mishelle Farer
El Salvadorian male immigrant yet to be identified
Author: Guillermo Osorno
Photographer: Ricardo Ramirez Arriola
No one knows his name. It matters, but it doesn’t matter anymore. Rather, at least that’s what I think. I believe he is dead, that’s for sure. I believe the hardest part is over. This is also sure, although I know it was something he was regretting along the way because he didn’t know that things could get any worse. I believe at one point he had to walk barefoot. I believe he was mugged at gunpoint on a train before arriving in Oaxaca. I believe his life in El Salvador wasn’t a good one. I think the Mara Salvatrucha killed his brother or perhaps a family member. I believe he went to the United States to locate a family member, to see if they wanted him. I think along the way someone told him that they had been kidnapped by municipal police officers and that they asked his relatives from the United States for money. The officers then beat that someone, released him and he ended up at a shelter, where the two met. I think he didn’t know what to say to him. I believe he and the rest of people killed in Tamaulipas were caught so that they could beg for money. I believe as he had the blindfold on, before they shot him, he agreed to drink water from puddles and begged to eat.
Unidentified Salvadoran male immigrant
Author: Guillermo Osorno
No one knows his name. Which does matter, but doesn’t matter anymore. Instead, let me tell you what I think. I think he’s dead, that’s for sure. I think the hardest part’s over. That’s also for sure, though he repeated those words to himself frequently along the way because he didn’t believe things could possibly get any worse. I think that at one point he had to walk barefoot. I think he was mugged on a train on the way in to Oaxaca with a gun pointed at his head, that’s for sure. I think his life in El Salvador wasn’t so good. I think the Mara Salvatrucha killed his brother or maybe a family member. I think he set out for the United States to try and locate someone from his family, to see if anyone there wanted him. I think someone he met along the way told him that he’d been kidnapped by police officers who demanded ransom from his relatives in the United States. The officers then beat that someone, released him, and he ended up at the shelter where the two of them met. I think he didn’t know what to say to this guy. I think he and the rest of the people killed in Tamaulipas were abducted so they could be held for ransom. I think that while he had the blindfold on, just before they shot him, he remembered how he used to drink water from puddles, how he used to beg for food.
EAllen — December 10, 2013 @ 5:54 pm