New Mexico Mercury

Dreaming of America

“I came across the border when I was seven years old,” says Rosario Rodriguez or “Chalio” as we know him, “and I knew that eventually this was where I wanted to live.”

That was sixty years ago. Now it’s Friday, December 20, 2013 and we’re in a huge meeting room in the Convention Center in Albuquerque. In addition to hundreds of friends and family members, there are one hundred and sixty four people from 44 countries who are waiting for their oath of US citizenship. Chalio is one of them...

A Holiday Thank You

Last week, I had the opportunity to be with volunteers from New Mexico who were bringing holiday cheer to thousands of needy Mexican children.

On Thursday, I met up with a non-profit named Amigo Fiel, a program which provides care and education to children at risk in Juárez or, to put it another way, a “home away from home “ program.  It was started by Carlos Garcia of Santa Fe and his brother, Hector...

Democracy or Safety? America’s Strategy in Central America

Democracy or safety? Which do you want? This isn’t a reasonable question for us Americans because we can have both. For many countries, it’s a wrenchingly difficult choice.

Take the tiny Central American countries of Honduras and Nicaragua. Honduras just held its Presidential elections and they offer some important lessons about our role in Central America, the impact of drugs and violence, and the factors that make a country viable...

The Miracle of Alfredo

It’s a miracle, says Pastor Galván as we talk about the sudden recovery of Alfredo Ortiz, one of the mental patients in his asylum in Juárez. The problem is that I don’t believe in miracles. So how did this man recover from three months of being catatonic?

Alfredo was born in Juárez on June 9, 1977, appears to be a humble young man and is a skillful worker. In April 2012, his family committed him to Vision in Action, this private mental asylum founded by Pastor Galván...

Bullfighting and Border Crossing in Tijuana

Imagine what a surprise it was when my wife, Julie said that she wanted to go to Tijuana, Mexico. For months, she has been concerned about my monthly trips across the border (mostly Ciudad Juárez)  but I have long wanted her to see what border life is like, especially in the safer environment of Tijuana.

The occasion was the visit of Julián López Escobar, “El Juli,” the world’s greatest bullfighter in my opinion and a very unique human being. Born in Madrid, Spain on October 3, 1982, his parents enrolled him in the Madrid School of Tauromachy when he was only nine years old...

La Santa Muerte and Jesús Malverde: Narco Saints?

“I may be big but I’m very scared,” Jorge answers as we work our way through narrow streets in the Tepito district of Mexico City, searching for either the church or the “santuario” of La Santa Muerte (the Saint of Death). We’ve heard that this increasingly popular saint is the protector of drug users and dealers and want to get the real story. Jorge is a highly successful Mexico City lawyer but, most important, he is big and powerful looking.

I first read about La Santa Muerte in a 2008 New Yorker article, “Days of the Dead, the New Narcocultura”, by Alma Guillermoprieto. She said that, “The cult is known for the drug traffickers’ devotion to it ...”

Hidden Treasures

“Some people say that they are “basura humana” or human garbage but I feel that they are “tesoros escondidos” or hidden treasures, Pastor José Antonio Galván says of the one hundred mental patients in his asylum in the desert on the west of Juárez, Mexico.It’s been almost three years since my first visit with him, this imposing, quick witted, relentlessly optimistic man who has saved the lives of so many of Mexico’s mentally ill...

Los Ojos de Dios

“Eleven years ago, I woke up at 2 in the morning, wondering what would happen to unhealthy babies who had no love and who were not as blessed as mine had been. The next morning I felt energized. I was determined to end a cycle and begin research to find out where some of these children were; in sum, I needed answers,” says Patricia Silas, the founder of Los Ojos de Dios, an orphanage in Juárez, Mexico that is dedicated to the most needy of young children...

The Magic of Your Dreams

It’s one of the most important days in the life of Yeira Rubi Beltrán. Her quinceañera. She lives on the west side of Juárez with her brother, Hector and her grandmother, Elvira Romero in a shack with little protection against the rain and wind. To survive, they’ve often had to find scrap metal to sell along the highway. “They’ve suffered a great deal,” Elvira says.

I first met Yeira and Hector in March, 2011. Their grandmother, Elvira was the cook at the nearby mental asylum, Vision in Action that I visit every month...

What some see as border security, others see as border hysteria in Mexico

As Congress gets back in session the question of immigration reform will be front and center. The danger is that fanatics will dominate the debate and that the key question once again will be border security and an excessive hysteria about Mexico.

About every three weeks I cross the border into Mexico at Juárez, Santa Teresa just to the west, Palomas south of Columbus, N.M., or on foot at Nogales and Tijuana. What actually happens just across the border? Here are the kinds of people you would actually meet...