WEBVTT 1 00:00:05.960 --> 00:00:10.240 From Futro Media and PRX. It's Latino USA. I'm Maria 2 00:00:10.480 --> 00:00:20.479 Josa today our award winning series The Moving Border. In 3 00:00:20.600 --> 00:00:24.919 episodes one and two of The Moving Border, we took 4 00:00:24.960 --> 00:00:30.960 you to Hoes and Dapachula. Today in episode three, The Caravan, 5 00:00:33.200 --> 00:00:35.199 It's like one of my favorite places. I don't know 6 00:00:35.200 --> 00:00:37.519 why I love this blasts so much. It's just because, 7 00:00:37.920 --> 00:00:42.160 I mean, it's like Mexico and New York all in one. 8 00:00:43.000 --> 00:00:47.760 Just you know, blasts Us are so special. 9 00:00:48.200 --> 00:00:52.200 They're one of my favorite places in Mexico. Blasts Us 10 00:00:52.320 --> 00:00:55.080 are the heart of any town. There are a place 11 00:00:55.160 --> 00:00:58.600 for people to congregate, to chat, to shop, to catch 12 00:00:58.680 --> 00:01:01.480 up with friends, to go on a date. You might 13 00:01:01.520 --> 00:01:05.640 hear live music, lots of babies crying. You're hearing all 14 00:01:05.720 --> 00:01:10.480 kinds of sounds of life in many towns along the 15 00:01:10.600 --> 00:01:15.840 US Mexico border. Also on the Path North, Blasas have 16 00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:19.680 now become a different kind of place, a safe space 17 00:01:19.840 --> 00:01:24.600 for migrants and asylum seekers to congregate. So when I 18 00:01:24.760 --> 00:01:28.240 arrive in a new city, I'm always stopping by the 19 00:01:28.280 --> 00:01:32.360 Blasa first, which is what I'm doing right now. I'm 20 00:01:32.400 --> 00:01:35.880 in Tapachula, which is a city in the southern state 21 00:01:35.920 --> 00:01:41.200 of Chapas, Mexico. It's right across the border from Guatemala. 22 00:01:42.120 --> 00:01:44.600 The last time I was in this very same blasa, 23 00:01:44.640 --> 00:01:47.520 I was at the start of twenty twenty, right before 24 00:01:47.600 --> 00:01:51.120 the COVID pandemic changed everything Now. 25 00:01:51.200 --> 00:01:51.840 The restaurant. 26 00:01:51.840 --> 00:01:54.800 When we came last time, this place right here on 27 00:01:54.800 --> 00:02:00.320 my left Reginas, was packed with African people, most and 28 00:02:00.360 --> 00:02:03.200 they were watching a soccer match. It was a Sunday. 29 00:02:03.680 --> 00:02:09.360 Today the plaza is completely cordoned off with metal wires everywhere. 30 00:02:10.040 --> 00:02:14.120 Our Mexican colleague, Beinghamin Alfadro, says, the city claims the 31 00:02:14.120 --> 00:02:19.320 plaza was closed due to COVID, but it doesn't really 32 00:02:19.400 --> 00:02:24.079 make sense. But everywhere around the plaza everything is open. 33 00:02:26.040 --> 00:02:28.760 So it's like, oh, you're closing off the plaza because 34 00:02:28.800 --> 00:02:33.280 this is where actually a lot of patient people come 35 00:02:33.360 --> 00:02:35.800 to hang out, to make connections, to see what's happening, 36 00:02:35.840 --> 00:02:38.880 to make plans to get in touch with family. It 37 00:02:39.000 --> 00:02:44.240 feels pointed, almost like the city has decided to hide 38 00:02:44.400 --> 00:02:49.360 the problem rather than fix it, because there is a problem. 39 00:02:49.880 --> 00:02:53.360 What surprised me in twenty twenty was the sheer number 40 00:02:53.560 --> 00:02:58.040 of asylum seekers and migrants who were stranded here in Dapachula, 41 00:02:58.680 --> 00:03:02.320 nearly two thousand miles away from their destination at the 42 00:03:02.440 --> 00:03:05.760 US border to the north. And soon we learned that 43 00:03:05.960 --> 00:03:11.240 was because Mexico was borrowing US immigration tactics, making it 44 00:03:11.360 --> 00:03:17.119 nearly impossible to continue north undetected by Mexican immigration agents 45 00:03:17.560 --> 00:03:22.320 who were now rounding them up and deporting them, something 46 00:03:22.480 --> 00:03:28.480 that Mexico didn't used to do. So people are now 47 00:03:28.760 --> 00:03:32.800 forced to stay here, and they have to wait, and 48 00:03:33.040 --> 00:03:37.680 many of them did just that, wait right here at 49 00:03:37.720 --> 00:03:51.120 this blaca. Now, if you stand here and look at 50 00:03:51.240 --> 00:03:55.640 the empty blasa, you might think that things have gotten better, 51 00:03:56.440 --> 00:03:58.960 that people have been able to move, that they've been 52 00:03:58.960 --> 00:04:02.240 able to continue their journey north, that maybe that's the 53 00:04:02.320 --> 00:04:05.880 reason why the plasa has been cleared up. But the 54 00:04:05.920 --> 00:04:09.600 reality is that there are more Haitian migrants arriving in 55 00:04:09.680 --> 00:04:14.040 Dapachula now than there were two years ago. That's according 56 00:04:14.040 --> 00:04:18.400 to GOMAD, the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistants, the organization 57 00:04:18.560 --> 00:04:26.280 tasked with processing asylum petitions in Mexico. Actually, since twenty nineteen, 58 00:04:26.839 --> 00:04:31.680 the number of asylum petitions filed with GOMAD has doubled. 59 00:04:31.720 --> 00:04:36.599 Here last year, the majority of requests were filed by 60 00:04:36.680 --> 00:04:40.599 Haitian nationals, who became the number one petitioners for the 61 00:04:40.640 --> 00:04:47.960 first time ever in Mexican history. For years, the majority 62 00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:53.320 of those applicants had come from Honduras, and between January 63 00:04:53.360 --> 00:04:58.000 and November of last year, more than ninety thousand people 64 00:04:58.560 --> 00:05:03.480 entered asylum petitions here in Chiapas, nearly half of them 65 00:05:03.760 --> 00:05:11.880 were Haitian. Because of this, in late September, Gomar opened 66 00:05:11.920 --> 00:05:17.039 the city's Gafitaledo's soccer stadium as a processing center for 67 00:05:17.160 --> 00:05:24.440 new arrivals. So we're pulling up to the Estraceleestadio. Okay, 68 00:05:24.480 --> 00:05:28.960 in the stadium, it's kind of empty. People are leaving 69 00:05:29.040 --> 00:05:33.680 right now. I see young women gomarcees. Over fifty thousand 70 00:05:33.720 --> 00:05:36.760 people have shown up here at this stadium in the 71 00:05:36.800 --> 00:05:40.120 close to two months that it's been open. When we 72 00:05:40.279 --> 00:05:43.640 drive up, there are no crowds that we've been told 73 00:05:43.720 --> 00:05:45.000 are gathering here daily. 74 00:05:45.720 --> 00:05:46.200 Look at this. 75 00:05:46.920 --> 00:05:51.120 Oh hello, Okay, So here we are. Now there's a 76 00:05:51.279 --> 00:05:57.760 huge tree and there is a long line here. So 77 00:05:57.960 --> 00:06:00.600 what we had to do was just get in the 78 00:06:00.600 --> 00:06:03.200 car drive around because we thought they were gone. It 79 00:06:03.200 --> 00:06:07.320 looks like they're gone. No, no, no, no, No, they're here, 80 00:06:08.240 --> 00:06:11.480 and no longer in the noonday sun. They are now 81 00:06:11.520 --> 00:06:15.880 standing in line, in a long line, waiting under a 82 00:06:16.040 --> 00:06:17.120 huge tree. 83 00:06:17.360 --> 00:06:21.360 In the shade. And there is an ambulance here. 84 00:06:22.240 --> 00:06:27.279 You know, as I approached the line and I id 85 00:06:27.279 --> 00:06:30.760 myself as a journalist, most of the people turned away 86 00:06:30.760 --> 00:06:31.039 from me. 87 00:06:36.800 --> 00:06:44.440 No, there are a lot of kids right now. 88 00:06:44.600 --> 00:06:50.760 You can see them, babe in arms, hear them little 89 00:06:50.760 --> 00:06:56.920 toddlers who are just having to withstand standing, a little 90 00:06:56.920 --> 00:07:01.440 baby under the tree, playing with a brand. It's amazing 91 00:07:01.480 --> 00:07:04.800 how kids just kind of in these situations. Eventually, a 92 00:07:04.839 --> 00:07:09.200 woman waves. She's got long black hair and is wearing 93 00:07:09.240 --> 00:07:12.760 a thin black tank in her arms. She's carrying a 94 00:07:12.800 --> 00:07:17.120 small white dog. From behind. A man hugs her. He's 95 00:07:17.240 --> 00:07:31.360 tall and has a freshly shaved head. The couple doesn't 96 00:07:31.360 --> 00:07:33.400 want to share their names, but they say that they've 97 00:07:33.400 --> 00:07:37.040 been in Tapachula just a week and that their journey 98 00:07:37.440 --> 00:07:58.720 to Mexico has taken them nearly three years. Flying from 99 00:07:58.800 --> 00:08:02.320 Havana to Mexico City takes just a few hours, but 100 00:08:02.440 --> 00:08:06.119 Cubans need a visa to enter the country. She says 101 00:08:06.200 --> 00:08:08.600 that's why she and her husband left their island on 102 00:08:08.640 --> 00:08:12.320 a boat and made their way to Surinam. There they 103 00:08:12.360 --> 00:08:15.880 crossed to Guyana, a tiny country at the northern tip 104 00:08:15.960 --> 00:08:20.600 of South America. But they knew that getting to and 105 00:08:20.800 --> 00:08:24.760 across the US border was going to take money, so 106 00:08:25.080 --> 00:08:29.520 instead of continuing north, they hopped on a bus back 107 00:08:29.640 --> 00:08:33.000 south to Brazil because they had heard that they could 108 00:08:33.040 --> 00:08:42.319 work and make money there. Arentina, then they got on 109 00:08:42.640 --> 00:08:48.240 more buses, going south again, this time to Paraguay. From Paraguay, 110 00:08:48.360 --> 00:08:52.160 they went down to Argentina, the southernmost country in the continent, 111 00:08:52.600 --> 00:08:55.000 and in each place they would take on odd jobs, 112 00:08:55.280 --> 00:08:58.160 doing anything they could in order to save a little 113 00:08:58.200 --> 00:09:02.600 bit of money to go back north. In Argentina they 114 00:09:02.600 --> 00:09:12.440 sold bread in the street. In Peru, they worked at 115 00:09:12.480 --> 00:09:24.439 a dairy farm. In Ecuador, they harvested cacao super. They 116 00:09:24.440 --> 00:09:27.520 say the work was backbreaking, and because they were undocumented, 117 00:09:27.559 --> 00:09:30.840 they say they were paid really little. They stayed in 118 00:09:30.880 --> 00:09:33.600 each country for just a few weeks, sometimes a month, 119 00:09:33.960 --> 00:09:37.800 saved everything they possibly could, and then they moved on slowly. 120 00:09:38.120 --> 00:09:44.600 In Chine north. When they made it to Colombia, they 121 00:09:44.640 --> 00:09:47.840 had to venture into the dangerous Darien Gap to cross 122 00:09:47.880 --> 00:09:52.319 into Panama and further north in central America. That is 123 00:09:52.360 --> 00:09:57.240 an isolated jungle filled with steep mountain ranges and poisonous snakes. 124 00:09:57.880 --> 00:10:00.560 There did used to be a lot of people in 125 00:10:00.640 --> 00:10:04.600 and about that inn, but in twenty twenty one, over 126 00:10:04.720 --> 00:10:08.480 one hundred thousand people crossed what many referred to as 127 00:10:08.920 --> 00:10:10.559 Laruta de la muerte. 128 00:10:10.640 --> 00:10:11.800 The root of Death. 129 00:10:16.559 --> 00:10:20.199 That one hundred thousand crossing was a fifteen year record. 130 00:10:20.559 --> 00:10:24.360 Although no one actually keeps track of those who don't 131 00:10:24.400 --> 00:10:28.880 make it out alive, the International Organization of Migration reported 132 00:10:28.920 --> 00:10:31.960 that forty two people died here in twenty twenty one. 133 00:10:32.760 --> 00:10:46.840 Still they say the actual number is probably much higheral Umemo, 134 00:10:47.640 --> 00:10:49.920 the Cuban couple, tells me that it took them nearly 135 00:10:49.960 --> 00:10:53.360 a month to get through the jungle into Panama. They 136 00:10:53.360 --> 00:10:56.800 got lost, they were returned to Colombia, and along the way, 137 00:10:56.840 --> 00:10:59.480 they say they saw a lot of abuses, many of 138 00:10:59.520 --> 00:11:03.320 them acted against black migrants who had it worse, treated 139 00:11:03.400 --> 00:11:07.560 badly by authorities and sometimes locals and often even other migrants, 140 00:11:08.280 --> 00:11:11.679 And because Haitians are black and they don't speak Spanish, 141 00:11:11.840 --> 00:11:14.920 they are the ones that are bullied. The couple says 142 00:11:14.960 --> 00:11:17.640 they understand why none of the Haitian people would speak 143 00:11:17.679 --> 00:11:21.160 to us in this line today, because why should they 144 00:11:21.160 --> 00:11:28.240 trust us? Like the Cuban couple, many of the migrants 145 00:11:28.280 --> 00:11:31.880 here in Tapachula have been in transit for months, sometimes 146 00:11:32.040 --> 00:11:36.760 for years, and Tapachula is just another barrier plays with 147 00:11:36.840 --> 00:11:40.840 bureaucratic backlogs so long they can be expected to spend 148 00:11:40.920 --> 00:11:46.400 another year or two in Mexico just waiting for transit 149 00:11:46.480 --> 00:11:49.800 documents in order to continue their journey north towards the 150 00:11:49.920 --> 00:11:55.319 US safely. And that is why caravans are so appealing. 151 00:11:55.760 --> 00:11:59.960 It's much riskier to travel alone, but a big group 152 00:12:00.280 --> 00:12:04.199 calls attention, so it's harder to be harmed or assaulted 153 00:12:04.559 --> 00:12:21.079 by criminals or by the Mexican police. The week prior 154 00:12:21.240 --> 00:12:25.559 to our arrival here, about fifteen hundred migrants left from 155 00:12:25.640 --> 00:12:29.400 Tapachula on their way north. They're now on their way 156 00:12:29.440 --> 00:12:32.280 to chow Wheet, this which is a small town in 157 00:12:32.360 --> 00:12:35.400 the state of Wahaka, and they plan to stop and 158 00:12:35.520 --> 00:12:39.920 rest for the night there before continuing north. So we 159 00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:42.800 get in our car and decide to meet them there. 160 00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:47.440 What takes us five hours to drive is what the 161 00:12:47.559 --> 00:12:53.000 caravan has done walking for two weeks straight. What this 162 00:12:53.160 --> 00:12:59.360 is an actual border, This Okay, I'm having a moment. 163 00:13:00.400 --> 00:13:03.000 I'm really having a moment. This is what it used 164 00:13:03.240 --> 00:13:07.960 to look like when you were crossing into the United States. Actually, 165 00:13:10.120 --> 00:13:12.520 that you would have these little things that you would 166 00:13:12.559 --> 00:13:14.880 pull up and you'd have to pull your. 167 00:13:14.800 --> 00:13:16.560 Car up, and then you would open your car and 168 00:13:16.600 --> 00:13:18.400 search it on. And that's what they're doing right now, 169 00:13:20.760 --> 00:13:25.959 COmON lost check point. Yeah, exactly. 170 00:13:26.880 --> 00:13:33.280 It's an absolute imitation of US Border Patrol control track 171 00:13:33.320 --> 00:13:39.680 sings internally in Mexico. So this is another way in 172 00:13:39.760 --> 00:13:43.120 which this country has chosen to basically imitate the policies 173 00:13:43.160 --> 00:13:46.040 created by the United States, and we just witnessed. 174 00:13:45.600 --> 00:13:52.160 It coming up on Latino USA. 175 00:13:52.720 --> 00:13:56.840 We arrive in Wahaca, Mexico and meet a caravan of 176 00:13:56.920 --> 00:14:01.720 asylum seekers on their week's long journey north by foot. 177 00:14:02.360 --> 00:14:50.200 Stay with us, not yes, Hey, we're back. Finally we make. 178 00:14:50.080 --> 00:14:51.640 It to the state of Wahaka. 179 00:14:52.560 --> 00:14:58.760 So we just made a left turn into Chawetness, which 180 00:14:58.880 --> 00:15:01.280 is like little tiny town. 181 00:15:01.360 --> 00:15:02.720 There's not much here at all. 182 00:15:03.880 --> 00:15:07.000 Dirt roads, mostly except for the main one that we're on. 183 00:15:08.560 --> 00:15:11.800 Within a few minutes, we arrive at the Blaca and 184 00:15:11.840 --> 00:15:15.720 that's where we see hundreds and hundreds of people in 185 00:15:15.800 --> 00:15:20.280 this small park, and they are all just resting. 186 00:15:20.600 --> 00:15:21.840 They look exhausted. 187 00:15:22.560 --> 00:15:27.200 The Mexican police are here too, and they're armed to 188 00:15:27.280 --> 00:15:32.920 the teeth, even though the people here are mostly families. Okay, 189 00:15:33.280 --> 00:15:36.800 Jesus Christ, look at this guy with Holy Jesus Christ. 190 00:15:36.800 --> 00:15:39.960 Look at the size of that machine gun. It's about 191 00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:44.640 as big as me. Okay, so quite militarized. We turn 192 00:15:44.680 --> 00:15:48.360 a corner into the darkness of the plaza and I 193 00:15:48.440 --> 00:15:52.560 hear a family speaking Creole. Among hundreds of Central American 194 00:15:52.680 --> 00:15:55.960 asylum seekers in this park, we'd only seen a few 195 00:15:56.040 --> 00:15:59.960 black migrants. I get close and she tells me we 196 00:16:00.080 --> 00:16:16.480 Delen is her name, Silvia. I'm immediately taken in by 197 00:16:16.480 --> 00:16:20.480 this family. We're gonna call them lap Familia Felix. Felix 198 00:16:20.560 --> 00:16:25.720 is their last name, Bidlin. The mom is striking. She's 199 00:16:25.720 --> 00:16:30.120 got a beautiful smile and high cheekbones and very inviting eyes. 200 00:16:30.920 --> 00:16:34.680 She has her arms around her husband. I'm glad as 201 00:16:34.680 --> 00:16:39.200 she's speaking, she's gently and lovingly caressing him. 202 00:16:39.600 --> 00:16:40.560 They have four. 203 00:16:40.480 --> 00:16:44.480 Children, two teenage boys and two girls eleven and ten, 204 00:16:45.280 --> 00:16:47.560 and they sit next to their mother on a worn 205 00:16:47.640 --> 00:16:51.280 blanket on the hard concrete of the sidewalk, and they're 206 00:16:51.320 --> 00:16:56.920 listening to her attentively, smiling and nodding as their parents speak. 207 00:16:56.680 --> 00:17:09.520 To us doubl dominicana istavaciendo de portacion and brazil in 208 00:17:09.640 --> 00:17:19.000 Isme Mando elis exposa an it is west aa entroux 209 00:17:19.280 --> 00:17:20.919 abuska la familia. 210 00:17:23.040 --> 00:17:26.439 Mom worked as a pharmacy assistant and dad worked in 211 00:17:26.480 --> 00:17:31.760 a factory. The Dominican Republic doesn't grant citizenship to children 212 00:17:31.840 --> 00:17:36.200 of undocumented Haitians, even if they are born on their soil, 213 00:17:36.880 --> 00:17:40.399 so kids like the Felix's girls have to grow up 214 00:17:40.400 --> 00:17:45.080 without any protections, no documentation. So I'm glad their father 215 00:17:45.200 --> 00:17:49.280 made the tough decision to emigrate to Brazil. After several years, 216 00:17:49.320 --> 00:17:53.840 the family was able to reunite there. The family struggled, 217 00:17:54.320 --> 00:17:57.880 like many other Haitians in South America, worked dried up 218 00:17:58.000 --> 00:18:01.520 during the pandemic. Then by the and became president and 219 00:18:01.560 --> 00:18:04.800 people around them started heading to the United States. They 220 00:18:04.840 --> 00:18:10.840 hope Biden could potentially revamp the assylum system and protect them, 221 00:18:11.000 --> 00:18:16.000 so they took their savings and began their journey north. Eventually, 222 00:18:16.080 --> 00:18:20.760 the Feliks family makes it to Colombia to Akandi, a 223 00:18:20.800 --> 00:18:24.920 tiny town at the border of Colombia and Panama. There 224 00:18:25.080 --> 00:18:27.920 they have the option to pay a guide to take 225 00:18:27.960 --> 00:18:31.760 them through the jungle in the Dadian Gap up until 226 00:18:31.760 --> 00:18:35.840 the Panamanian border, but this would cost them hundreds of 227 00:18:35.920 --> 00:18:38.919 dollars at the lower end, and they still needed to 228 00:18:38.920 --> 00:18:42.560 make it through five more countries to even get to Mexico. 229 00:18:43.520 --> 00:18:47.199 So they make the decision to set out to cross 230 00:18:47.200 --> 00:19:04.359 the Dadian jungle without a map on their own. The 231 00:19:04.440 --> 00:19:08.080 Felix's children tell me they saw dead bodies in the jungle, 232 00:19:08.960 --> 00:19:14.639 people who looked like them, but they had to keep going. Eventually, 233 00:19:14.680 --> 00:19:18.600 they were detained by Panamanian police and sent back to Colombia, 234 00:19:19.200 --> 00:19:23.399 so they had to do the unthinkable, start all over 235 00:19:23.520 --> 00:19:28.600 again and cross back into the Dedian jungle. After that experience, 236 00:19:28.880 --> 00:19:32.200 they say getting to Mexico was a blessing. They even 237 00:19:32.240 --> 00:19:35.760 considered staying in Mexico if they could find work, but 238 00:19:36.400 --> 00:19:41.600 then racism reared its head again. I'm glad, says He 239 00:19:41.720 --> 00:19:44.320 went to all the schools he could find to sign 240 00:19:44.440 --> 00:19:47.480 up his girls, but they always heard the same thing, 241 00:19:48.080 --> 00:19:51.760 the classes were full. Eventually, he decided to call a 242 00:19:51.800 --> 00:19:53.240 school and he got good news. 243 00:19:53.560 --> 00:19:55.960 They had space. He just needed to come in and 244 00:19:56.000 --> 00:19:56.920 bring some paperwork. 245 00:19:57.600 --> 00:20:07.159 Buondola made man mass medios. 246 00:20:07.840 --> 00:20:10.960 I'm glad, says when he got to the school and 247 00:20:11.160 --> 00:20:14.920 they saw him, he was told suddenly that there was 248 00:20:15.200 --> 00:20:18.760 no longer any space for his girls, and that's when 249 00:20:18.840 --> 00:20:28.520 his voice begins to crack. He says he couldn't bear 250 00:20:29.080 --> 00:20:31.400 that his daughters were going to miss out on an education, 251 00:20:32.200 --> 00:20:35.760 on having a childhood, and so that's when they decided 252 00:20:35.880 --> 00:20:36.439 to join the. 253 00:20:36.520 --> 00:20:38.920 Caravans on an NFL man. 254 00:20:49.119 --> 00:20:52.040 Asking the US for asylum is a big risk for 255 00:20:52.160 --> 00:20:55.800 families like the Felixes, like the vast majority of Haitians 256 00:20:55.880 --> 00:20:57.200 making their way to the US. 257 00:20:57.680 --> 00:20:58.600 They've not lived in. 258 00:20:58.640 --> 00:21:03.440 Their own country for years. Being deported to Haiti would 259 00:21:03.480 --> 00:21:08.080 be the worst case scenario. That's why they joined this caravan. 260 00:21:10.600 --> 00:21:14.160 I look around at people falling asleep in this park, 261 00:21:14.359 --> 00:21:18.919 in the outdoors, and I'm thinking about how these caravans 262 00:21:18.960 --> 00:21:23.080 are so often framed as something to be feared in 263 00:21:23.359 --> 00:21:28.119 US media. For the people here, this is the smartest, 264 00:21:28.640 --> 00:21:33.840 most secure, most strategic decision that they can make to 265 00:21:34.080 --> 00:21:39.280 travel in a caravan because it's safe. In the US media, 266 00:21:39.600 --> 00:21:43.160 they're portrayed like they're forcing their way into the United 267 00:21:43.200 --> 00:21:47.840 States or trying to intimidate Americans. But in fact, what 268 00:21:48.040 --> 00:21:51.520 I see is a very different narrative of a caravan. 269 00:21:52.480 --> 00:21:58.359 This is a caravan of love, safety and security, and 270 00:21:58.480 --> 00:22:01.680 for the people putting every thing on the line in 271 00:22:01.840 --> 00:22:23.600 this park, there's community. When we return the next morning 272 00:22:23.680 --> 00:22:26.960 at four o'clock, the park is still quiet, even though 273 00:22:27.320 --> 00:22:31.560 there are more than a thousand people sleeping here, one 274 00:22:31.960 --> 00:22:35.480 next to another on the sidewalks, in the streets, in 275 00:22:35.560 --> 00:22:41.800 the grassy patches of the plaza. As we walk around quietly, 276 00:22:42.400 --> 00:22:46.760 we find the Felix's family. They're all sharing one blanket, 277 00:22:46.880 --> 00:22:51.760 all six of them huddled together. Then I see the dad, 278 00:22:51.920 --> 00:22:54.880 I'm glad, get up and start brushing his teeth using 279 00:22:54.960 --> 00:22:57.960 a water bottle over the sidewalk where he was just sleeping. 280 00:22:58.920 --> 00:23:02.399 Then they all wake up, come together, bow their heads, 281 00:23:03.240 --> 00:23:07.159 and then I see them holding hands and praying quietly together. 282 00:23:10.840 --> 00:23:14.439 People are walking, they're coughing, they're going to the bathroom. 283 00:23:14.560 --> 00:23:18.119 They're starting their day, just the way all people do. 284 00:23:21.440 --> 00:23:24.439 And now the energy shifts again because people have started 285 00:23:24.520 --> 00:23:27.200 to walk and it's still pitch black outside. 286 00:23:28.280 --> 00:23:32.040 So we are at this start of the line. 287 00:23:33.119 --> 00:23:37.680 Basically, they just said, let's go and suddenly everybody's on 288 00:23:37.720 --> 00:23:41.080 their feet and moving in less than a minute. People 289 00:23:41.119 --> 00:23:44.720 are stuck and they're walking out to Our family is 290 00:23:45.440 --> 00:23:47.640 actually very close to the front now at this point, 291 00:23:48.200 --> 00:23:51.400 as the sun is rising, we walk with the Felix's 292 00:23:51.440 --> 00:23:54.879 family for several miles through the town of Chaweitis, and 293 00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:58.959 then we reach a highway. There are people around us 294 00:23:59.400 --> 00:24:03.879 and wheel chairs. There are so many elderly people. There 295 00:24:03.920 --> 00:24:07.879 are little kids being pushed in strollers. There are some 296 00:24:08.080 --> 00:24:11.440 people who are missing limbs and are on crutches. 297 00:24:13.200 --> 00:24:16.320 I mean, this is not like we're walking slowly and 298 00:24:16.400 --> 00:24:19.720 making our way. This is a New York City walk. 299 00:24:19.840 --> 00:24:23.119 We are determined, we're walking fast. 300 00:24:25.280 --> 00:24:27.880 We walk for a little while longer on the highway, 301 00:24:28.480 --> 00:24:30.840 but then we have to say goodbye to the familiar Felix. 302 00:24:31.920 --> 00:24:35.760 Today. They'll probably walk for another eight to ten hours. 303 00:24:46.640 --> 00:24:50.880 Yeah, we watched the caravan walk away and realize we've 304 00:24:50.920 --> 00:24:54.160 got to go in the opposite direction. They're heading north. 305 00:24:54.600 --> 00:24:58.000 But everyone we've spoken to has talked about coming from 306 00:24:58.119 --> 00:25:03.200 much further south. We're talking about coming from Colombia from 307 00:25:03.480 --> 00:25:07.119 the jungle, and the people we're seeing who are coming 308 00:25:07.720 --> 00:25:13.920 are changing. This movement of people is increasingly black, whether 309 00:25:14.040 --> 00:25:17.720 from Africa or from Haiti, and they're making their way 310 00:25:17.880 --> 00:25:22.760 north through the Dadien Gap, the jungle between Colombia and Panama, 311 00:25:24.240 --> 00:25:38.840 and that's where we're headed to next. Now we're landing 312 00:25:39.040 --> 00:25:44.199 in Boroda on a foggy November afternoon, but our destination 313 00:25:44.600 --> 00:25:46.400 is far from the capital city. 314 00:25:47.320 --> 00:25:49.280 We're traveling to Las Dicas. 315 00:25:49.760 --> 00:25:53.240 It's a makeshift camp for migrants and refugees at the 316 00:25:53.480 --> 00:25:56.959 edge of the dadi Enn on the northern Colombian border, 317 00:25:57.600 --> 00:26:01.200 which is to say, it's in the middle of the jungle. 318 00:26:04.720 --> 00:26:08.720 After two plane rides, a four hour car ride, a 319 00:26:08.880 --> 00:26:12.760 night in a hostel in another town, we finally secure 320 00:26:12.840 --> 00:26:16.520 tickets for an eight a m boat ride to Akandhi, 321 00:26:17.080 --> 00:26:20.639 the tiny town where the journey to the camp will begin. 322 00:26:25.720 --> 00:26:27.520 So we just got our life preservers. 323 00:26:27.600 --> 00:26:30.399 So it's boiling hot outside and we've just been giving 324 00:26:30.880 --> 00:26:33.199 black life preserver but we have there's like all these 325 00:26:33.240 --> 00:26:38.120 safety that we're in this boat for close to two hours. 326 00:26:38.560 --> 00:26:43.240 We're jumping through the waves of the Caribbean Sea. We're 327 00:26:43.400 --> 00:26:49.480 literally in the middle of nowhere and this is beautiful. 328 00:26:50.400 --> 00:26:52.080 And finally they call it our stop. 329 00:26:55.320 --> 00:26:55.920 I want to see you. 330 00:26:57.280 --> 00:27:01.000 Unlike the prior stops where the Colombian tour got off 331 00:27:01.080 --> 00:27:03.840 at ports in their bathing suits and ran off to 332 00:27:03.880 --> 00:27:07.800 their little hotels, our stop was a little bit different. 333 00:27:08.920 --> 00:27:12.359 We stopped in the middle of the sea, and then 334 00:27:12.480 --> 00:27:16.040 a small raft pulled up to the side, and then 335 00:27:16.560 --> 00:27:19.240 the tiny boat was there as we jumped in with 336 00:27:19.400 --> 00:27:22.680 our bags that were wrapped in black trash bags to 337 00:27:22.840 --> 00:27:26.480 keep them dry, and then we pulled off and saw 338 00:27:26.520 --> 00:27:33.600 the coast in the distance. Once we get to a Gandhi, 339 00:27:34.040 --> 00:27:37.720 we just see a bunch of people kind of hanging around, 340 00:27:38.600 --> 00:27:43.760 and we hear that migrants arrive here multiple times a 341 00:27:43.880 --> 00:27:48.080 day at a little hidden port that's just a few 342 00:27:48.160 --> 00:27:52.480 steps down the way, and for five dollars, a motorcycle 343 00:27:52.600 --> 00:27:55.159 taxi says that they'll take us there so. 344 00:27:55.200 --> 00:27:56.400 That we can see for ourselves. 345 00:27:59.200 --> 00:28:00.000 And now i'm amie. 346 00:28:05.080 --> 00:28:07.760 When we get to this hidden port, there's no way 347 00:28:07.800 --> 00:28:10.119 to know if anybody's going to be arriving today. 348 00:28:11.000 --> 00:28:13.840 But then after just a few minutes we see a 349 00:28:13.920 --> 00:28:14.520 small boat. 350 00:28:14.880 --> 00:28:20.680 So there is a small boat arriving with one two, three, four, five, six. 351 00:28:20.720 --> 00:28:24.880 Seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, 352 00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:29.399 seventeen eighteen, nineteen twenty twenty one. I think four of 353 00:28:29.440 --> 00:28:33.639 those are kids when is being nursed right now, that 354 00:28:33.880 --> 00:28:34.560 is in. 355 00:28:34.640 --> 00:28:47.200 New York, So messicado. Everyone getting off the boat looks 356 00:28:47.200 --> 00:28:48.080 pretty exhausted. 357 00:28:51.280 --> 00:28:54.160 This group is suddenly hurried off by another group of 358 00:28:54.280 --> 00:28:58.560 Colombian young men who are yelling instructions in Spanish. And 359 00:28:59.480 --> 00:29:01.760 I look at them and I realize that they're wearing 360 00:29:01.920 --> 00:29:04.080 name tags that look kind of official. 361 00:29:04.680 --> 00:29:08.360 The idea says, they're gillas or guides. 362 00:29:09.320 --> 00:29:21.680 You're wearing laminated look even here a laminated tagre. 363 00:29:28.200 --> 00:29:30.120 And com can. 364 00:29:31.960 --> 00:29:33.719 A be yes. 365 00:29:37.760 --> 00:29:38.120 He says. 366 00:29:38.200 --> 00:29:41.080 There are all kinds of workers here, tour guides like 367 00:29:41.240 --> 00:29:44.240 him who will help guide the migrants to the camp, 368 00:29:44.400 --> 00:29:47.520 which is about four hours away, and then through the 369 00:29:47.640 --> 00:29:51.640 day inn until they reach the Panamanian border. There are 370 00:29:51.720 --> 00:29:55.720 other people who are official bag carriers. There are even 371 00:29:56.000 --> 00:30:00.840 people who specialize in carrying babies and children. When I 372 00:30:00.880 --> 00:30:04.240 ask him he works for, he won't say, but he 373 00:30:04.320 --> 00:30:07.960 does say that they're not employed by the government. Elombre 374 00:30:08.440 --> 00:30:11.239 the man is their boss, and he's the one who 375 00:30:11.360 --> 00:30:13.240 makes sure that the people here are. 376 00:30:13.160 --> 00:30:25.000 Saved no naturistico. 377 00:30:26.840 --> 00:30:29.160 As they get ready to take off to let's take us, 378 00:30:29.400 --> 00:30:38.000 So do we, and then a massive storm explodes, like 379 00:30:38.160 --> 00:30:41.600 what became pretty usual in the border towns along the 380 00:30:41.760 --> 00:30:42.960 US Mexico border. 381 00:30:43.680 --> 00:30:46.040 Now Here in this part of. 382 00:30:46.160 --> 00:30:50.960 Colombia, on the edge of the jungle, migrants have brought 383 00:30:51.080 --> 00:30:56.720 a new economy to Akandi. That's because the border that 384 00:30:57.080 --> 00:31:02.520 US bound migrants need to overcome continues to move further 385 00:31:02.800 --> 00:31:09.640 and further south. In October twenty twenty, US Secretary of 386 00:31:09.720 --> 00:31:14.360 State Anthony Blincoln participated in a regional conference in Bogota, 387 00:31:14.840 --> 00:31:19.400 where high level officials from across South America discussed, among 388 00:31:19.480 --> 00:31:24.560 other things, how migrants heading towards the US are affecting 389 00:31:24.640 --> 00:31:26.720 their countries and their economies. 390 00:31:27.560 --> 00:31:31.040 The migration challenge that we're facing in our hemisphere is 391 00:31:31.160 --> 00:31:35.120 not one country's problem. It's our shared problem, and it 392 00:31:35.200 --> 00:31:38.040 cannot be solved by any one country. We have to 393 00:31:38.240 --> 00:31:41.400 solve it together. That's the spirit I think that brings 394 00:31:41.440 --> 00:31:43.840 us together today and I hope informs the work that 395 00:31:43.920 --> 00:31:44.280 we're doing. 396 00:31:52.520 --> 00:31:56.760 A big focus of Blincoln's speech centered around human rights, 397 00:31:57.360 --> 00:32:01.800 urging Colombia to take care of their new neighbors, Venezuelans 398 00:32:01.840 --> 00:32:05.600 who are fleeing the Maduro dictatorship, And I think about 399 00:32:05.600 --> 00:32:10.640 the hypocrisy of this statement of the US asking Colombia 400 00:32:11.120 --> 00:32:15.600 to help asylum seekers from a bordering country. Well, what 401 00:32:15.720 --> 00:32:20.160