Mexico’s migration route, dubbed by some as ‘the most dangerous journey in the world’, holds that unique position as being both a utopian path to paradise, and a perilous obstacle course, littered with the dangers of rape and torture. The grave reality is that for the thousands of people hoping to escape enduring poverty and better their lives in the USA, very few will make it.
Opportunistic criminal gangs gather around known migration routes and pose as a constant threat to the scores of Salvadorians, Hondurans and Guatemalans who leave their homes with, at times, nothing more than the clothes on their backs. Mexican officials often work in collaboration with these gangs to extort what they can from these passing migrants.
Kidnapping is rife. Torture and murder are far from unheard of. Six out of every ten women who make the journey will be raped. Many a family wait in hope of a victorious phone call which is unlikely to be made, their trailblazers simply having ‘disappeared’. Given the lack of statistics and official figures, nobody knows how many die. Amnesty International, after investigating the hidden human rights abuses, estimated that in just the first 6 months of 2009, the number of abductees stood at roughly 10 000.
Since this revelation of the sheer scale of crime and impunity affecting transmigration, the Mexican government has been working closely with Amnesty International to highlight the dangers of the journey. In 2010 a series of eye-opening interviews with these transmigrants prompted them to launch their Send Socks! Campaign, after learning that their most valuable possession was, surprisingly, a pair of socks.
It has been almost two years since the Send Socks! Appeal began, with the hope of highlighting the plight of migrants, and to provide a potential life-saving garment to those transmigrating through Mexico. With Christmas just around the corner it seems a fitting time to remember those in transit and, if you can, pop a pair in the post. It could save a life.
