‘Train of death’ drives migrant American dreamers
‘Train of death’ drives migrant American dreamers
By Karl Penhaul, CNN
Arriaga, Mexico (CNN) — The ground rumbles when it moves. The steel wheels grind and screech. The whistle is a snarl not a toot. Some call it the “train of death,” others simply call it “La Bestia,” or the “the beast.”
To thousands of dirt-poor migrants, this thundering cargo train is a free ride to their American Dream — or their modest dreams of working hard and saving even harder to send a few dollars home to loved ones.
But along the ride, migrants who cram onto the roof of the trucks and any spare space in between risk death and injury.
One of the riders is a Honduran widow, Nolbia Pacheco. She tells me the day she left her 6- and 11-year-old children with her cousin, she simply said she was going “to the other side.” She did not explain what she meant or how long she would be away.