Catching up...again

First of all, an apology for my absence since I've been in Mexico. It's hard to believe I've been here almost three weeks and I've only posted...twice. Maybe it's because my time here has been much more productive, and research success is somehow less worthy of note than research frustration. (And undoubtedly less interesting for non-historians!) Or maybe it's just that I've been busy working. Whatever the case, it is clearly time for an update.

A photo that has nothing to do with this post,
 but I included it just because photos are nice. This is a
mural at the cultural museum in Coyoacán.

It's hard to believe that I only have ten days left of my summer research trip. After this, it's off to BC for the month of August, where I plan to swing in my hammock, gorge myself on fresh peaches, laze in the sun...and write a 1,500 word paper abstract and a 10 page research proposal. Sigh. Real vacation time seems always to be a fleeting hope for the academic.

So far, my time in Mexico has been divided between the Archivo General de la Nacion (AGN) and the archive of the Secretario de Relaciones Exteriores (SRE) - the latter being far more productive than the first. However, this week I will return to the AGN to finally confront the secret police archives, armed with a long list of organizations to look up, as they won't allow you to search by people. Yes, it seems they do everything in their power to make access difficult. That said, I'm hopeful that something will turn up. My last step will be - ojalá - a return trip to UNAM, where I hope to finally gain access to the personal papers of the Guatemalan novelist and political exile, Luís Cardoza y Aragón. The collection appears to be enormous (I've been able to look through a finding guide), but since they won't allow me to photograph any of the documents, I'll only be able to get a vague idea of the collection, at best. That said, the purpose of these last six weeks of research has been to gauge what sources exist for my project. A year from now, I'll return for an extended trip and revisit all of these archives and more. In this sense, the trip has been a success. There seems to be an abundance of material available in Mexico, which makes up for the wild goose chase that took place in Guatemala.

The view from the top of the Monumento de la Revolción,
where Rachel and I enjoyed a cup of coffee last weekend.

On a personal note, I've found my time here and in Guatemala to be incredibly fulfilling. In both cases, I was lucky enough to find fellow historiodoras from the New York area to keep me company: the two Rachels. It's been such a comfort to have another person not only to explore and to share meals with, but also to reflect on our research, to strategize, and to bounce ideas around. It's always been my experience that friendships formed away from home develop and solidify more quickly than those at home, as you rely on each other for the support that you would otherwise seek elsewhere. That has surely been the case here, and I'm so grateful to have made two wonderful friends who will not only be close by when I return to school in the fall, but who will be my peers and my colleagues for many, many years to come.

I suppose that's all for now, but I promise to write at least one more post before I go. Hasta luego.

Confronting the Reality of Child Migration

I had a tough start to my day today, when I came face-to-face with the "unaccompanied minors crisis" firsthand at the breakfast table. But maybe I should preface my story by telling you a little about where I'm staying.

The Casa de los Amigos is a Quaker guesthouse that funds various peace and social justice projects in Mexico City. There is space for about 50 people here, with rooms ranging from 12-bed dormitories to a private apartment. Because of the nature of the organization, it's generally full of students, volunteers, researchers, and human rights workers. The Casa also provides shelter for migrants and refugees who pass through Mexico City, often on their way to the United States. Which brings me to this morning...

'La Bestia'

Breakfasts at the Casa are always a highlight of the day, when different guests and neighbors get together to share a meal. This morning I arrived early to breakfast, finding one of the volunteers sitting at the table with a boy who appeared to be about 12 years old. The boy was very quiet and timid, and after a few minutes it became clear to me that he was a migrant, probably making his way north. I asked him where he was from and he told me that he was from the Petén, Guatemala's large jungle region. He spoke into his plate and clearly didn't want to talk. I got the distinct impression that he was traumatized, so I let him be. I later asked one of the volunteers about the boy and was told that he arrived late last night, after already having been on the road for 3 months. He's 14 years old and has been traveling on the notorious train - known as 'The Beast' -  that carries migrants from Central America north, to the U.S. border. And as I suspected, he has been badly traumatized by what he's seen and experienced along the way. I asked what the Casa's policy is for giving money to such guests, concerned that the boy will have nothing to eat once he leaves us. They informed me that another organization called Sin Fronteras was coming to pick him up and that if I made a donation, they would make sure it went towards taking care of our young friend.

If he makes it, this boy will be just another one of the over 50,000 children who have already arrived, unaccompanied, at the U.S. border this year. While Congress scrambles to find the fastest way to ship them back where they came from - mainly Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador - their home countries continue to be plagued by poverty, gang violence, and a drug war that is sponsored and fueled mainly by the United States. (Canada may not be at the forefront of the drug war, but the demand for cocaine certainly isn't helping the situation). If the U.S. government wants to solve this latest immigration crisis, perhaps it is time to take a long, hard look at the many reasons why parents would risk their children's lives to send them on such a dangerous journey, thousands of miles across Mexico and into the United States.

If you want some further reading on the current immigration crisis, check out this article by the L.A. Times and this one, courtesy of Latino Rebels.

And a follow up: http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2014/07/mexico-central-american-migrants-train-beast

Update: Our young Guatemalan friend is looking distinctly more upbeat today. He even gave me a little smile. It's amazing what a couple nights in a real bed, three square meals a day, and being in the company of people who care about you will do for a person. I don't know how long he's going to stay, but I hope it's long enough to fortify him for what promises to be a difficult road ahead.

I'm Still Alive!

It's now been over a week since my last post, and I apologize for falling off the radar. Last time I wrote was just after leaving Xela - was that really just a week ago? So much has happened since then, but I'll have to give you the nutshell version.

My trip to Guatemala ended with a last-minute interview, set up by Sergio's lovely sister, Rita. It was a mad dash back to Guatemala City from Antigua for a 10 am appointment, which wouldn't have been difficult if it weren't for a combination of protests, traffic, and police roadblocks. After about 15 minutes of frantic phone calls with my taxi driver, Luis - 80% of which I couldn't understand - we finally found each other and I managed to make it to my interview with no time to spare. My interview subject was one of the few remaining members of the October Revolution in 1944, a man by the name of Antonio Móbil, who also happens to be a historian. Although he couldn't tell me too much about my specific topic, we had a nice chat and he gave me a couple books - and some great contact e-mails! It was a nice way to end my trip.

Much like Guatemala, my arrival in Mexico City was blissfully uneventful. I arrived just before sunset and checked into my accommodations for the month: Casa de los Amigos, a Quaker guesthouse in the center of the city that welcomes all sorts of travelers, researchers, and volunteer workers. So far, my stay here has been delightful and the company at breakfast always interesting. 

In my experience, things rarely go smoothly in Mexico for long and it was only a day before chaos set in. I arrived on Tuesday evening and decided to take Wednesday to settle in. My plan was to head to the Archivo General de la Nación (AGN) on Thursday, stay there as long as necessary, and then move on to a very important collection that I heard was located at the main university in Mexico, UNAM. Wednesday rolled around and I was told that UNAM was going to shut down after Friday...for three weeks. On Thursday morning, I scrambled to get out of UNAM first thing in the morning. Once there, I found the Fondo Reservado and politely asked if they had the collection I was looking for, which I hadn't been able to locate in their online database. Fortunately for me, I was in the right place. Unfortunately, I needed to register for my credentials before they would let me look at the documents. The archivist informed me that I would need a copy of my passport, a set of ID photos, and my address in Mexico City. Off I went to find a copy shop and a place to have my photos taken, which turned out to be surprisingly easy. After a couple hours, I took everything to the archivist, only to realize that I had missed one key word in the previous instructions: "proof". As in, proof of address. To my utter confusion, the archivist kept insisting I would need a light bill or a water bill, despite the fact that he knew I was a foreigner and staying in a hotel. Frustrated, I made my way home without having looked at a single document - though he did let me browse in the finding guide for a couple hours. When I arrived back at the Casa, the manager was very familiar with my tale and happily loaned me an electricity bill. The next morning, armed with everything I could possibly need, I went back to UNAM. This time the archivist was very impressed with my preparedness and happily took all my paperwork. Then she promptly informed me that it would be roughly THREE DAYS to process my credentials. Three days with a three week vacation in between. At this point, I'm hoping to get a couple days browsing the collection so that I'll at least know what's there for when I'm able to go back. Fortunately I didn't need my credentials to use the Hemeroteca, so I spent the rest of Friday looking through periodicals. At least I did something productive.

After two days of navigating Mexican bureaucracy, the weekend arrived and I joined a friend from the Casa for a Couchsurfing trip to Teotihuacán. I climbed some pyramids, met some lovely people, and was surprised to get a rather impressive sunburn after having grown so accustomed to the wet, dreary weather of Mexico City. 

Monday rolled around and I am happy to say, I was finally able to hold real documents in my hands after so many weeks of chasing my tail. I met up with a friend from the DPDF workshop, who was kind enough to hold my hand during my first trip to the AGN. To my surprise, I found all sorts of material during a lengthy search of the AGN database. A day later, I have some decent research under my belt and am getting ready to delve into some secret police records. It feels good to finally be making progress after so much frustration. I can't say it's been in vain though, since  the last three weeks have allowed me to work on one quality that I've always been lacking: patience.