Bolivarian Media Exchange Screens Film

An article from El Hispanic News, January 11th, 2007

EL SUEÑO

Richard Jones
El Hispanic News Writer
Portland, OR — Thousands of prospec-
tive Mexican workers have died of heat and
dehydration crossing the deserts of Sonora
and Chihuahua. Others have
died of suffocation, locked in the
back of coyote vans.
“El Sueño” — a low-budget DVD pro-
duced by German journalist Uli Stelzner
— extends this theme, aiming farther south
to examine the plights of Guatemalans,
Hondurans, and Salvadorans negotiating
the Mexican border as their fi rst step to
experience “The American Dream.” Their
daunting experiences add a horrifying cat-
egory to the immigration picture.
The documentary’s tag line — “The
nightmare of the immigrant’s journey
North” — accurately describes the frighten-
ing 85-minute ride.
Through the words of the émigrés
themselves, viewers can grasp some gen-
eral patterns. Most are young men who
cannot fi nd jobs in their regions that pay
adequately — including jobs with U.S.
corporate outposts. These young men are
faced with the onus not only of supporting
themselves, their wives, and families, but
their parents also.
Others fl ee civil wars and corrupt govern-
ments in their home countries. Executions
by government death squads or theft of their
family land by the wealthy provide strong
incentives to look elsewhere for a stable life.
Many have made the trip north several
times — and have been expelled by U.S.
authorities each time. Still they persist in
making one more attempt in hope of pro-
viding for themselves and their families.
A contingent of migratory young women
— including many single mothers leaving
their children behind — head north in
search of living wages.
Crossing the Mexican border may help
them escape the violence of their country’s
rulers, but it also brings on a new set of
problems.
Freight trains — the transportation of
choice — dangerous as they are, prove a
mixed blessing. If the uninvited riders don’t
fall while trying to catch a moving boxcar,
they might make the mistake of falling
asleep and falling to their fate — dismem-
berment or death. Interviews with men
missing arms — or both legs — bring a
chilling reminder of the risks with which
these seekers of dreams must deal.
As they hang around railroad terminals
in southern México, they must try to avoid
organized gangs that aim to steal their small
stash of cash savings. Resistance to these
gangs often results in mutilation or death.
Young women face not only theft from
the gangs, but sexual assault and abduc-
tion also — with the ever-present option
of death.
Salvadoran-based gang Mara Salvatru-
cha, or MS-13, fi gures prominently in these
vicious assaults. The gang has far outgrown
its base in El Salvador and taken root in
México as well as more than half the states
in this country.
Appealing to Mexican police, the émigrés
say, is largely useless. They claim that Mexi-
can law offi cers are often as dangerous as
the Mara Salvatrucha members. If the police
don’t rob them, they are equally likely to
throw them into fi lthy prisons to await ship-
ment back to their countries of origin.
Before having the chutzpah to pass any
more immigration laws based on their
emotions, the 538 members of Congress
would do well to spend an hour and a half
watching this documentary and meditating
on its message.
Lessons
At last week’s showing of “Asalto al
Sueño” at Liberty Hall in North Portland,
the DVD failed about fi ve minutes before
its conclusion. Perhaps it drew out some
morals; perhaps it did not.
In either case, a thoughtful viewer might
well be able to draw some useful conclu-
sions from it:
1) The fi rst requirement for a prosper-
ous country is a fairly honest government.
Repressing citizens’ ability to work and
produce is a guarantee of poverty for the
masses. Ironically, it seems, that even the
elite who steal from the poor might even
fi nd themselves better off if they removed
they yokes from the poor.
Allowing huge corporations, domestic
or foreign, to prey on the poor, pressuring
them to work in unsafe conditions, pro-
duces no long term benefi ts for anyone,
including the corporations.
If the best people can expect for their
labor is to have half of it stolen, they will
have little incentive to produce. Therefore,
thieving gangs and law officers do not,
except in the shortest term, even benefi t
themselves.
2) The second requirement for prosper-
ity lies in a functional education system.
Those skilled in communication, skills, and
sciences can lift the community to a higher
standard of living.
The progress of the human race depends
upon passing acquired knowledge from
generation to generation. Short-circuiting
this process results in the fossilization of the
community in its current level.
(3) Putting young women at risk of
becoming mothers at 15 — or younger
— places a great hardship on them. If young
men and women will not heed their elders’
pleas for abstinence, one should consider
the next line of defense. That line is built
upon the knowledge of the reproductive
processes, giving young people some
defense against unwanted pregnancies, and
the right to reproductive freedom.
Producing more children than the coun-
try can feed is a recipe for malnourishment,
higher disease levels, prematurely inter-
rupted educations, and often personal
hardships.
For information about acquiring a copy
of “Asalto al Sueño” for your organization,
call 503-236-7916. The first Thursday of
each month the Bolivarian Media Exchange
presents a bilingual fi lm at Liberty Hall,
311 N. Ivy. MBE/WBE Certifi ed Publication

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