People Without Papers: Dalin Esparzo, Interview #1

A Brief Introduction
My main objective on the border is to create a documentary film with the aim of raising awareness of migration issues in the United States by illustrating the human side of migration. This is the translated, consolidated and in no other form altered version of a 30-minute interview which I conducted and filmed for this project. The film is still in the filming/structuring phase.
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The Lady from Honduras

My name is Dalin Esparzo and I am 29 years old. I come from the area of Olancho in the city of Catacomas, Honduras. I actually live on a ranch called "San Marcos. I had a beauty shop.

I grew up in a home where there was a lot of violence; my father beat me.
I have sisters and three brothers. The violence that we lived through, because of my father, united us.
My sisters and brothers left home when they were between 13-15 years old, when I left I was 13.
We didn't all leave together, but we would keep meeting up with each other as we traveled.
My sisters were in the capitol, Tegucigalpa. So I escaped the house and found them.
I knocked door to door walking the city asking for work.
It wasn't easy.
I worked as a maid when I was 13 and was exploited without pay for about 6 months. I was almost 14 years old when I left.
I used false papers from an 18 year old and was able to get work.
My name was Maria Eloisa.
I worked in an underwear factory for "Victoria's Secret" for 5 years. I worked 12-14 hours a day; they left me all alone.
It was a lot of pressure for a 14 year old.
At the age of 15, I hung out with people who were not good. They got me drunk and then raped me.
I met the man who raped me after I left my parents house.
He was 28.
I have 3 of his children.
My father, being the way he was, called up the man who got me pregnant and said to him "you have to come get her and take her with you!".
I had to live with the person who raped me for two years.
After I separated with him I found out I was pregnant with my twins and I was alone.
He came to the U.S.
In February he was deported. He is now in Honduras but not with our children.
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I have 4 children.
My daughter, Alejandra, is 13. I have 10 year old twins, Oscar and Roge; they look very much alike and are a little mischievous; you can imagine- they are twin boys! I also have a 2 year old daughter, Dana.
They are very polite, good kids.
I was the only one raising them so I tried to give them a good childhood. I was a good mother to the best of my abilities.
I was their friend as well as their mother.
We have a good relationship and now they are with my sister.
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I have come to Mexico 4 times and been deported 4 times from Piedras Negras.
This time I came on the 1st of June from Honduras.
We can't enter legally to Mexico. We are undocumented since we get to the border; the same process as to cross the U.S. but I haven't crossed the U.S. yet so I can't compare.
The truth is that the pass through Mexico for us Central Americans is much more difficult than for any other country.
We walk a lot... 17 hours or up to 7 days to get around the Mexican border.
I have more fear of being deported by Mexican officials than by U.S. officials because all the U.S. will do is deport you.
In Mexico, the ones who find you are delinquents; gangsters like Zetas or Salvatruchas; criminals. If you don't pay them they will kill you.
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We have to travel by train.
At each station Mara charged me $100 to travel on the train.
Mara are gangs made up of Hondurans, Salvadoreans and Mexicans. Mara kills but they are not as powerful as the Mafia.
They take advantage of us. The ones who can't pay go back home or stay in southern states of Mexico.
We cannot just buy a train ticket; we are undocumented and will be reported and deported.
You have to catch the train while it is running. It is difficult.
The train station guards will let you on while it's stopped if you pay them 400 pesos and then...
...How do I say this?
They ask for sex in exchange for certain benefits.
There are always people willing to protect you but for the price of sex. The machinists will say "I'll take you in the room and you don't have to deal with the criminals".
But he is another criminal.
You have to deal with one or the other.
So we were always paying...
...You don't have to risk your life.
This is the life on the train.
This train starts in the state of Tabasco to go up north. There are around 700 people.
You travel with people who drink and do drugs. We would watch how they would fall off the train while playing around high or drunk; many lose their lives.
It is not a nice trip.
However, as long as you are paying, you keep moving up north little by little.
I traveled by cargo train for 27 days, but in Mazatlan we were assaulted and thrown off.
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After we got kicked off the train in Mazatlan, we came to Nogales with a supposed guide who found us a coyote that said he would help us cross the border.
They tell you it's a good coyote that has taken other family members safely.
In our town, generally, the good coyotes are known- the ones that take people to their destination well and alive.
You can't trust anyone.
But at least you know their families and they know yours, so you know how to find them.
Once you are there everything is different; they trick you.
The first 2 days the coyote asked us for $700 to pay off the mafia and then we were supposed to take off.
5 days passed.
He spent the money on drugs like cocaine, beer and marijuana... in the same apartment where he had us all.
There are guns and guards and you can't leave.
We were 17 people.
I asked for money to go to the pharmacy and one of the armed guards was following me.
Once I got to the pharmacy, I went in the front door and out the back. I ran about 3 blocks and jumped into the first taxi I found.
I could not tell the police about the experience because it would mean risking my life.
When I escaped there were 13 people left.
3 men from El Salvador had left because they said they wanted to go back to El Salvador and one girl who broke her teeth when we were assaulted in Mazatlan was being treated by Red Cross.
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When I first came to the shelter, honestly, I was terrified.
I didn't even come out to the patio for the first 4 days. I was scared of all the other migrants.
They would ask me "are you going to come out today?" and I would say "no way! I'm fine!".
Maria saw me crying and she told me she would take me to a more secure area.
The shelter is a very safe, peaceful place where you can get psychological therapy and recuperate from the trauma so you can reconstruct your life.
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I will cross into the U.S.
I will leave Nogales. I can't cross here for fear of the same mafia that kidnapped me before.
I'll travel by truck and find a coyote.
It's the only way.
I'm afraid of the desert but not because of U.S. Border Patrol. If the U.S. gets you they just deport you back home and that's fine.
I have heard there's a lot of drugs and mafia.
If bad people get you, you can be killed, raped and who knows what else? You can also be kidnapped for ransom and instead of helping your family out they end up having to give everything they have.
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I want to get to the U.S and work for at least 3-5 years.
I will look for work first, I have friends who are already in the U.S. working.
I just want to finish building my house in Honduras so I can have my own business.
I don't think it is right...
...The people who migrate, Central Americans, Mexicans, etc., experience the most economic hardships and if they go to the U.S. it is because they want to help. Like we say; "we don't want to take anything, we are giving our time and hard work".
I think that as a Honduran, the problem is the people who migrate go to work and then enjoy the new life and don't want to return.
If we had a 5 year permit there would be opportunity for everyone.
5 years to go and make the most of your time in the U.S.
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I have a 50% chance of making it to my destination, 25% chance of being deported and 25% chance of dying.
But we always say...
"We prefer to die fighting than to die of hunger in our own country."
My name is Danil Esparzo and my American Dream is to get there, work for 3-5 years and then go back to Honduras to perform my role as a mother.
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Contributors:
Kino Border Initiative, el Comedor: KBI supported Danil during her time in Nogales as they have with countless women in her situation. They provided space for the interview at el Comedor.
Maria Casanova: Maria (aforementioned by Danil in the interview) is a student from Guadalajara who spent her summer volunteering with KBI. She had an array of responsibilities, most noteworthy was running the women's shelter. Maria organized the interview and translated my questions to Danil. Without Maria this interview would never have happened.
AnaLuisa Morales: AnaLuisa translated the interview, using an audio file, from Spanish to English and constructed the original English transcript with time code. AnaLuisa will continue to play an essential role in the creation of this documentary.
Catherine Born: Catherine is my fellow SCCF intern. She translated much of Danil's questions from Spanish to English during the interview.
Peg Bowden: Peg Bowden is the activist, writer and SCCF intern-coordinator who introduced me to el Comedor and has avidly supported me and this project.

Not Migration, Not Martyrdom, Just Murder

Perceptions of Reputation: An Introduction
The reputation of Mexico has been soiled by tales of decapitated heads on dance floors and drug lords who make Tony Montana seem like an okay-dude. On the flipside, United State Border Patrol Agents (all 21,000...soon to be 40,000) are revered as the ones who put their lives on the line (or should I say the fence?) to protect our beloved stars and stripes from such godless foreign villains.

If you were told that an unarmed 16 year old boy was pumped full of bullets while walking home in downtown Nogales, Mexico, with whom would you automatically associate guilt; cartel foot soldiers or our border boys in blue & green? Moreover, what if I told you that this young blood was spilled nearly one year ago and has gone essentially dismissed by governing authorities? To which nation would you attribute this crass oversight of justice; The United States of America or Mexico?

This is the story of that sixteen year old boy and the thugs accountable for his slaughter.

Unfortunate Portrait of a Child 

Friday October 10, 2012: As Told Through Comprehensive Research

The border fence slices through Nogales’s veiny roads. Poles of crude rusty steel translate International Street to Internacional Avenue, the street which sixteen year old Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez strolled on his routine return home from that of his girlfriend, Luz. On route he enjoyed hotdogs from the corner store that employed his brother, Diego. It was approximately 11 pm when Jose set out on this beaten path.

International

Internacional 

At this same time, a block away on the United State’s International Street, a Nogales, AZ police officer was radioed to confront two suspicious men strapped with large packs heading southbound on foot. Accompanied by Border Patrol agents, the officer responded. By their time of arrival the suspects were scaling the border fence. Border Patrol agents hollered verbal commands, expecting the men to comply and surrender. Once evident that these requests for forfeit were falling upon indifferent ears, the agents released their canine as further Border Patrol agents were drawn to the scene. Despite numerous on-looking agents and the best efforts of a German Shepherd, the two men were on the verge of conquering the steel curtain of American “national security” without apprehension.

As the men hopped into Mexico, evading arrest, they received aid from Internacional Avenue as people on the street began lobbing rocks in the direction of Border Patrol agents. Agents scampered for cover and all reached safety unscathed, except for one; the dog.  Border Patrol agents found this to be grounds suitable for deadly retaliation. In effect, cross-border bullets rained down onto Internacional Avenue.

By the end of the conflict, Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez lay still and tattered; his face buried in the pot-hole littered blacktop directly outside the barred window of an emergency medical clinic.

The emergency medical clinic; the dark spots in the building are bullet holes.

Autopsy results would later reveal that eleven bullets had entered Jose, including two to the back of the head with at least six hitting their mark after he had hit the ground.

Witnesses confirm seeing the pack-strapped suspects flee on foot. These witnesses did not link Jose to rock throwing or any other form of criminal activity. On his person was nothing but a cell phone.

The Equivalence of Stones to Bullets: Commentary of Colorful, Border-line Slander 

Stone-hurling is common practice where resources lack; stone wielding demonstrators have been present at recent large-scale riots in countries such as Greece, Turkey, Egypt and Peru. Mexicans have made habit of throwing stones at Border Patrol agents, racking up 249 documented cases in 2012. The tactic is popular enough that the United Nations and The United States Department of State have both addressed how to properly respond to such assault and both denounce using deadly force. Unfortunately it seems that Border Patrol has not received that memo, or maybe they have just been too busy riding their four-wheelers through nature reserves to read it; the Border Patrol Union supports agents who respond to stones with bullets.

Rocks can certainly be utilized as deadly weapons, no doubt about it, and I know that. I also know that Latinos have superhuman throwing capabilities (see Major League Baseball).  This being said, given the scene I find it nearly impossible to conceive that stones were used in a manner that threatened death in this incident. International Street runs parallel to Internacional Avenue but is elevated atop a hill. This is to say that if you stand at the border fence on International, you look upon rooftops on Internacional. Add a twenty-five foot tall fence to this equation and you may easily conclude that one cannot exactly laser-beam a rock from the street into the US.

A Pedestrians View from Internacional Avenue.
It is worth noting that many people believe the earthen material being thrown at Border Patrol agents was clumps of dirt, as they are prevalent at the bottom of the slope where there is no gravel.

Regardless, the dog got pegged and that was excuse enough for these trigger-happy rogue-warrior wannabes to call it a fight. Obviously, their are many fine men and women in the Border Patrol but any agent who would spray an unarmed child on foreign territory is utterly dishonorable or mentally ill.

The perpetrators in Mexico were (probably) armed with rocks. Let’s review what the other side was wielding. Jose’s elder brother Diego explained to me that two different bullets, .40 caliber and .223 caliber, were retrieved from embedment in walls and Jose’s corpse. This fact indicates two shooters. These bullets both match guns carried by the Border Patrol. Agents commonly carry two weapons that utilize the .40 caliber; these guns are the P2000 semi-automatic pistol and the UMP submachine gun which you may recognize as the weapon of choice within the 1920’s pinstriped Chicago mobster demographic. The .223 caliber matches a single weapon within the Border Patrol arsenal; the M4A1 assault rifle. This gun, which shoots 900 rounds per minute, is a favorite among military special operation units such as Navy SEALS, Army Green Berets and Marine Farce Recon. Needless to say, this is an accessory of absolute warfare.   

Diego Cradles His Cousin and the Memorial of his Deceased Brother

Through the narrow window of separation between border fence bars, past the interfering hillside brush, the shooters fixed their adolescent target in the crosshairs of their given weapons and squeezed bursts of bullets into his head. With their gun muzzles they followed the body as it went limp to the ground, continuing the bursts throughout. Jose’s murderers were skilled and ruthless marksmen; eleven bullets, two headshots, six bullets entering Jose while he lay face down in a puddle of his own blood is far from self-defense. This is not how you retaliate after someone hits your dog with a rock. This is what you do to someone when you desire that they have a closed-casket funeral. 

A Shooters View

In the Absence of Evidence, Speculation Reigns

Facts have been listed but much of this, of course, is speculation. Everything discussed thus far has been derived from news articles, websites, personal observation and discussions with the family whom Jose preceded in death. It would even be valid to accuse me of bias, seeing as how I am typically sympathetic towards young civilians who are murdered.

The fact that I have constructed such speculation is downright absurd, but this is not a comment on my speculation in itself. The absurdity arises from the fact that this entire incident was captured by a state-of-the-art surveillance tower that is located directly on the scene. Given the fact that the border is a hub for advancement in surveillance and other military technology, there is no questioning the quality of the footage. For nearly a year this visual footage has been passed around official personal within the United States government and is currently in the hands of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. No one outside of these agencies has viewed the tape and no one has been held accountable.

The surveillance tower may rise from the United States, but it has eyes on Mexico. This is the crime scene. 

Surveillance Tower Silhouette

(Slightly Uncomfortable) Food for Thought

In my opinion United States immigration policy, enforced by Border Patrol agents, is indirectly responsible for the deaths of hundreds of innocent people each year due to their overwhelming presence and efforts in deliberately funneling migrants into utterly inhospitable environments. That is an opinion and may be debated. It is fact, however, that at least nineteen people have lost their lives at the hands of the Border Patrol in the past two years alone. Six of these killings (including Jose, a man who was gathering firewood by a river and a man who was having a picnic for his daughter’s birthday—I kid you not) were the result of American bullets being shot in to Mexico. What is most shocking is the fact that a single agent has yet to be prosecuted in any of these instances.

From this mural , located midway between the surveillance tower and the emergency medical center, Santa Muerte watches over Internacional Avenue. The mural pre-dates Jose's murder.

Our Nation, with its supposed standards of decency and conduct, is concealing evidence of international homicide while neglecting to prosecute violent criminal perpetrators. In doing so the United States is excusing what may be fairly deemed state-based terrorism, carried out against Mexican civilians by American militants.

If this statement sounds like an extreme accusation, I challenge you to contemplate what terms would be used by United States media and government in the event of Mexican agents shooting an unarmed child on United States territory. And with that, I conclude; think hard on it....

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On the 10th day of every month a vigil is held on Internacional Avenue in memory of Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez. There, the family and community members pray for the soul of a child was a picky eater, a child who always smiled, a child who wanted to be a soldier when he grew up. They also pray that the United States allow access to the video footage from that night.

The family welcomes anyone at the vigil with embrace. If you are reading this and are able, please attend in support.

Vigil Night Scene

Jose's Mother

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References:

Santos, Fernanda. "Shootings by Agents Increase Border Tensions." New York Times 10 June 2013

John, Frey. "Over the Line." Washington Monthly. 06 May 2013

Ted , Robins. All Things Considered. National Public Radio: 11 Jun 2013

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/united_states_border_patrol

www.borderagent.us/equipment-used-by-u-s-border-patrol-agents/

Information derived from conversations with:

Diego Rodriguez

Officer Morales (full name unknown) of United States Border Patrol (confirmed information from websites concerning weapons in United States Border Patrol arsenal)

Aunt of Jose Rodriguez (name unknown)

Making Waves with Wheels

It’s uncomfortable to stare hardship in the face; it’s difficult to evaluate social injustice. That truth is magnified when contemplating the challenges of people who live on the other side of the fence in Mexico.  Trying to comprehend what it feels like to walk in another’s shoes can be challenging; yet, in the borderlands, there is a group doing just that.

Well, almost just that. Their main concern is not with those who walk; their inspiration and efforts have been with those bound to wheelchairs. Through the power of empathy and their professional expertise, this group knows very well the barriers of life in a wheelchair.  Furthermore, they know the inherent barriers of the conventional wheelchair itself.

This group, known as Arizona Sonora Border Projects (ARSOBO for short), made it their mission to identify and remove such barriers. Leading this mission are Kiko Trujillo and Dr. Duke Duncan, a University of Arizona faculty member in Pediatric Medicine. Their revolutionary wheelchair design quite literally begins on the factory floor where disabled people are paid fair wages to create innovative all terrain wheelchairs for disabled people. The wheelchairs are sold at affordable prices. A factory operating in Nogales, Sonora is their vision brought to life.

Tucked away amid Maquila District of Nogales, Sonora in a modest structure that is an embodiment of social investment and empowerment is ARSOBO's "Silla de Ruedas Todo Terreno Nogales" (All Terrain Wheelchair Nogales).

The Santa Cruz Community Foundation (SCCF) of southern Arizona and Fundacion del Empresariado Sonorense A.C. (FESAC), its twin foundation counterpart in Mexico, has done much to assist the birth of ARSOBO. SCCF and FESAC continue to collaborate with and support these fine folks as they expand.
 
This essay focuses on ARSOBO’s All-Terrain Wheelchair Project.  However, the small entrepreneurial shop is expanding to produce prosthetic limbs and solar-powered hearing aids as well.

Dr. Duke Duncan (Left) and Kiko Trujillo (Right) explain their next major endeavor; the solar-powered hearing aid. This inexpensive green technology will be produced and distributed under the same innovative ARSOBO model as the All-Terrain Wheelchairs.

Social Stigma and Employment

The hardship of being wheelchair bound persists heavily beyond the physical; it is also a social matter. The wheelchair too often dictates how society perceives people and shapes how people perceive themselves. Even in highly industrialized nations, people in wheelchairs are often presumed to be inferior.  It is common for such crude social stigmatization to outcast people in wheelchairs from mainstream employment opportunities. Even in white-collar positions people in wheelchairs may not be considered for employment because they are different, because they make some people uncomfortable. The effects of such stigma are amplified in places like Mexico where employment is scarce; I have been told by Mexicans that if you are born in Mexico with a disability you are typically destined to spend life as a beggar.

The best way to cure social stigma is to attack the issue head on and that is exactly what ARSOBO is doing. By employing people considered by many to be unable to produce effectively in the workplace, ARSOBO is displaying the potential of these men and others like them. At ARSOBO all of the employees are hardworking, skilled laborers-- not disabled people.

Don't let the wheelchair fool you; this sharp, hardworking man spends his days on the factory floor drawing up assembly prints and bending steel rods.

This photograph captures the Zen of wheelchair maintenance as this employee is able to specify and correct any imperfections. Dr. Duke Duncan lends a hand.

Hard Workin' Man

The Problem with Wheelchairs: A Rant

From this experience, I have concluded that the conventional wheelchair was either invented by a person who never saw dirt on the ground, or quite possibly the wheelchair industry is determined to keep anyone in a wheelchair inside of buildings and sterile medical institutions.

A  new manual conventional wheelchair designed for everyday use costs somewhere in the $1000-$2000 range but is worthless in places where there are uneven sidewalks, cracked sidewalks, no sidewalks, soft soil, loose soil, loose gravel, debris, pot holes, sewer grades, curbs, protruding roots, so on and so on.  Or in other words, the conventional wheelchair does not stand up (no pun intended) to obstacles existing in the real everyday world.

The RoughRider was designed by Ralph Hotchkiss of San Francisco State University specifically to conquer obstacles unmatched by the conventional wheelchair. This is the All-Terrain RoughRider Wheelchair produced and distributed by ARSOBO.

An essential element of the RoughRider is the presence of mountain bike wheels and tires.   These are optimal for the conditions in which these chairs will be used. Functionally, they are durable, provide tremendous traction, are difficult to penetrate and they support considerable weight.  Practically, they are simple to replace and may be conveniently purchased at a relatively low price at any bicycle shop.

Dr. Duke Duncan explains critical characteristics that separate the RoughRider front-wheel from a conventional front-wheel. Used in Kenya on push-carts, the wide diameter of the RoughRider front-wheel is nearly four times that of a conventional front-wheel. Furthermore, they have a firm, compact center to provide strength and durability but towards the outer rim the rubber of the wheel softens and becomes malleable, allowing it to yield to jagged surfaces.

The wheel-base of the Roughrider is extended 80% that of a conventional wheelchair. This is designed to combat tipping forward (the number one cause of wheelchair-rider injuries). It may be the RoughRider, but this frame enables a Cadillac-smooth ride.

The ARSOBO project exemplifies the SCCF's mission in action. It shows SCCF in accordance with FESAC aiding outstanding individuals from Mexico and the USA who are investing their expertise into the border community.

What impresses me most about this project is its all-encompassing nature. ARSOBO is confronting multiple facets of the struggle faced by those living in wheelchairs. They are providing employment, effective equipment and a senses of hope and meaning for this demographic. It may be too early to fully assess the effects of the ARSOBO model, but I see them generating a higher quality of life and improved sense of personal ability for the people they employ and serve.

Moreover, this sense of all-encompassment overflows into the realm of community. The folks at ARSOBO share with the SCCF and FESAC the sentiment of  human community superseding nationality. The waves of human suffering ripple the world over, subtly impacting our shared human consciousness. These waves do not respect secular borders, even those reinforced with twenty foot high steel fences. In response, we as a human  community must produce equally indiscriminate waves of  empathy and social aid to drown human suffering. At the hands of SCCF, FESAC, ARSOBO and similar organizations, a positive tide is raising. 

Establishing Context

My name is Martin Ethington. I was born and raised in the rust-belt city of Akron, Ohio but I now herald from the borderlands of Nogales, Arizona.

In April of 2013, during a cross-country bicycle expedition, I became familiar with this region through a week long service project at a school for the deaf in Nogales, Sonora. At this time I met with the directors of the Santa Cruz Community Foundation and FESAC: both organizations are cross-border affiliates striving to achieve community development in a period of economic depression. Throughout the course of these meetings I became familiar with the unique circumstances that form the reality of the twin cities, known as Ambos Nogales or Both Nogaleses. It is fair to say that this region is unlike any place on Earth. You may be unaware just as I was and most people are that these sister-cities, brewed in unity and segregation, are in the midst of an international relationship of the utmost significance, not only to Mexico and the United States, but to the world at large.

Since becoming acquainted with the border region I have been accepted to intern with the SCCF and aid them in their mission of creating a progressive border community by encouraging and helping the people of Santa Cruz County invest in themselves and their neighbors.

The purpose of this blog is to share my personal experiences as well as the work of the SCCF through text, film and photography.

Myself (left) and fellow borderland intern Oscar Limon (right)