Wow..what do you think about THIS "switch"?

In bloody detail, Mexico illustrates risks for migrants


Chris Hawley and Sergio Solache


Republic Mexico City Bureau


Apr. 19, 2008 12:00 AM





MEXICO CITY - One migrant gets his legs sliced off by a train's wheels. Another is shot by bandits on the Arizona border. Others are beaten and robbed by crooked Mexican police.





In a new effort to dissuade would-be border crossers, Mexico's top human-rights agency has published two comic books packed with tales about the horrors that migrants face. The tone is very different than previous government publications, which focused more on travel and safety tips.





One of the two Migrantes comics is aimed at Mexicans, while the other focuses on Central Americans traveling through Mexico on their way to the United States. The National Human Rights Commission began distributing 20,000 of them this month at migrant shelters and bus terminals. advertisement














"We could have made the stories a little softer, but the (commission) asked us to be very realistic," said Domingo Perea, editorial director of Comics and Visual Arts, the company hired to produce the comic books. "That was the intention, to discourage people from migrating."





In the past, several Mexican states have published booklets with advice for migrants. And in 2004, the Mexican Foreign Ministry published a comic-style Guide for the Mexican Migrant that offered safety tips for border crossers, information on their legal rights and advice for living unobtrusively in the United States.





The booklet outraged U.S. immigration-control groups, who said the comic style and frank advice trivialized the breaking of U.S. immigration laws.





The new comics have a more depressing tone, Perea said.





"We knew about that previous one, and both we and the Human Rights Commission felt it was too light," Perea said.





The National Human Rights Commission is funded by Mexico's federal government but operates independently. Its two Migrantes books are particularly harsh on Mexican authorities, portraying police and soldiers as corrupt.





In Issue No. 1 of Migrantes, a group of Mexicans is robbed by two Mexican police officers, abandoned by a smuggler and attacked by bandits on the Arizona-Mexico border. All the migrants turn back except one, who is seen dying in the desert on the last page.





Issue No. 2 follows a group of teenagers from Central America as they try to cross Mexico on their way to the United States.





They are harassed by Mexican soldiers, beaten up and robbed by Mexican police, kidnapped and beaten again by a machete-wielding gang, and suffer extortion by another gang member. Two teens are killed by a train, and only one continues onward.





Perea said there are no immediate plans for more comic books.





Not everyone is convinced the comic books will discourage would-be migrants. Guillermo Alonso, a demographer at the College of the Northern Border, said the commission should be giving out travel information if it really wants to save lives, especially as the Arizona-Mexico border approaches its hottest season.





"I think the National Human Rights Commission is using the wrong strategy," Alonso said. "I don't know who (the comic books) are aimed at, and that's a problem. What the migrants need are maps or radio programs to tell them what the weather is like."

Wow..what do you think about THIS "switch"?
too funckin long to read.
Reply:Kind of sick to call it a comic book.
Reply:That is some horrible news.


I really feel sorry for the people that where hurt buy this





Second note


I am happy Y!A


is working again
Reply:omg this is horrible what is this?
Reply:I think that the Mexican government is trying to placate the American public. Too many people are starting to suggest cutting off aid to Mexico in retaliation for their active lobbying efforts to promote illegal immigration all in an effort to secure more lucrative remissions and their inability to handle violence on their end of the border. This is a public relations move -- no more than that.
Reply:As Mexico and many of the other south and central American republics sink deeper into economic decline, ecological disaster and rising populations there's nowhere to go but north. Because Mexico and these other hellhole republics are totally corrupt, owned and operated by a few wealthy families and/or drug cartels the south and central American working class is facing a 'squeeze out' of historical proportions. The United States over the the last century plus has spent billions supporting the worst and most corrupt regimes that one can imagine because they were either 'friendly' to American business interests or 'anti-communist'. Zero regard was given to the general populations of these countries and now, the early 21st century the 'perfect storm' of economic, social and climate problems have created a possibly unstoppable wave of refugees. To defend ourselves, even though the moral issue of doing so is stark, is to close the borders as tight as possible, deport as many illegals as can be accomplished within the bounds of humanity and then try to avoid thinking about the results. If we don't close the border, no matter what the results for the people of Mexico and other countries to the south, we will BE Mexico. Nobody currently running for office wants to point out this 900 pound gorilla, but there he sits......and he's going to want his bananas, and a lot of them! No kiddin'!
Reply:I was unable to find the editor Domingo Perea in my searches, nor was I able to find the company of Comics and Visual Arts.


Other search terms that I used were immigrant handbook, immigrant comics, Migrantes, Issue No. 1 of Migrantes, Migrants and a few others.


On the chance that I missed something and these do exist I e-mailed Laura Skinner, a Customer Service Specialist at the Washington State Human Rights Commission.


http://www.hum.wa.gov/index.htm


I am off kilter (as seen by my short answer) today and was unable to find a more exact site to address my question to. I sent a bbc of the e-mail to myself if anyone is interested in verifying the form of my question.





The other "comics" Mexico gave out are addressed in the paragraph starting with, "In the Past". If you read that paragraph it is not made to sound as you did in your edit.





For those that have not seen the first booklet "The Guide for the Mexican Immigrant" here is a link that has uses English and gives the links to the Spanish version.





http://www.letxa.com/guiamigrante.php

toothpaste