AMERICA/MEXICO - For 20 years a group of women has offered railway-line assistance to emigrants travelling towards the United States

Monday, 16 February 2015

Veracruz (Agenzia Fides) – “These women known as 'La Patrona' group counteract the selfishness, pride and greed of politicians and government which has produced chaos and forced people to move away in order to survive”: said Bishop José Raúl Vera López of Saltillo (Mexico), during Mass celebrated on 14 February to mark 20 years of the group’s activity. Led by Norma Romero Vazquez and her mothers, Leonila Vázquez, these 15 exceptional women stand along the railway lines at the station of Amatlán de los Reyes, Veracruz, to meet the train, known as "La Bestia" and offer food and water to emigrants on their way to the United States.
Fides was informed by a local source that the celebration to mark these 20 years of voluntary free service, brought together human rights activists and defenders from all over the country, including Fr Alejandro Solalinde (director of the Hermanos del Camino Home for Migrants at Oaxaca); Brother Tomás González, from Tenosique, Tabasco; Prisiliano Peraza, from Sonora; Leticia Valderrama, Ruben Figueroa and Martha Sanchez Soler, coordinators of the Migrant Movement.
Bishop Vera López, who said the Mass along the train lines where the group offers its humanitarian services, ended with these words: "God wants everyone to eat and to eat every day, and these women know this. This is why they come here to give food to the migrants who are passing through. The fact that people are born in disaster struck places does not mean they must starve".
It is estimated that every year some 20,000 persons travel on "La bestia" train. Many are robbed and some even kidnapped. The Mexican state of Veracruz has one of the highest rates of violence against migrants: in 2014 alone the number of registered cases of persons kidnapped was 157, but many more are never reported. In 2013 in recognition for its social contribution “La Patrona” group was awarded Mexico’s National Human Rights prize. (CE) (Agenzia Fides, 16/02/2015)


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