Héctor

Cuacalco, Benito Juárez, Veracruz

The information which Fomento gathered as part of the Ambulantes project generated several reactions. Here we present the testimonies of some community assembly participants highlighting the importance of the information Fomento shared:

Héctor informs us that around 15 years ago he went to the harvest. In that moment he earned 35 pesos a day. He informs us that they were housed in galeras and given whatever poor-quality food happened to be available, they survived weeks on watery and tasteless soup. The two months seemed to him like half a year. He tells us that the contractors sometimes had them sign contracts with the seal of the local government so that if the municipal agent wanted to stop the contractors from transporting people out of their community, the seal and signature made them unable to act.

He also shared with us that entire families migrated and arrived with infants of two or three years. There was no one to take care of the children and they were kept out in the sun and occasionally given food while parents worked. He talked about asking for things from the manager, when they did, they were shouted at and told to leave, but they didn’t have the money to leave because they weren’t paid until the end of the two months.

After the Information which Fomento shared, Héctor commented: “the most important thing is for people to inform the authorities when they leave for the ‘contracts’, and for contracts to be signed by the people… It’s important to inform because when people have left without informing and something happens to them, the municipal agent doesn’t know what to do.”

He believes that the best way forward for the community with the information that Fomento has shared would be to have a dialogue with the municipal agent to work towards a more informed and safer migration.

Héctor says it’s good to start this conversation because he considers it very important to continue these discussions so that people remain informed.