Enrique’s Journey | Chapter Four: Notes About Sources

Statue of Christ: written from interviews with Enrique and from Nazario’s observation of other immigrants on a train passing the same statue. Information about religious items, Bible readings and how immigrants show their faith is from immigrants Marco Antonio Euseda, Oscar Alfredo Molina and Cesar Gutierrez. Nazario heard immigrant Marlon Sosa Cortez recite the prayer to the Holy Trinity as they rode on top of a train. Translations of the 23rd and 91st psalms are from the Holy Bible, King James version.

Oaxacans are friendlier: from interviews with Enrique and other immigrants, as well as Jorge Zarif Zetuna Curioca, an assemblyman in the Oaxaca state legislature and the former mayor of Ixtepec; Juan Ruiz, the former police chief of Ixtepec and now an Ixtepec police officer; and train engineer Isaias Palacios.

Exchange between food throwers and Enrique: from Enrique. The words are similar to those Nazario heard while observing food throwers in various towns and those she heard as food throwers in Encinar, Veracruz state, threw bananas and crackers onto a train Nazario was riding.

Food throwing: from Enrique, Nazario’s observations on a train and interviews with food throwers in Veracruz. At Encinar: Angela Andrade Cruz, Jesus Gonzalez Roman, his sister Magdalena Gonzalez Roman and their mother, Esperanza Roman Gonzalez; Mariano Cortes, Marta Santiago Flores and her son Leovardo. At Fortin de las Flores: Ciro Gonzalez Ramos, his children Erika and Fabian and former neighbor Leticia Rebolledo. At Cuichapa: Soledad Vasquez and her mother, Maria Luisa Mora Martin. At Presidio: Ramiro Lopez Contreras and his son Ruben Lopez Juarez. The 2000 World Bank study: “The Effect of IMF and World Bank Programs on Poverty.” Rural malnutrition information is from Mexico’s 1999 national nutrition survey, conducted by the Instituto Nacional de Salud Publica.

The food throwers’ reasons: “If I have one tortilla, I give half away,” from Maria Luisa Mora Martin, more than 100 years old, in Cuichapa, Veracruz. “I don’t like to feel that I have eaten and they haven’t,” from bread maker Mariano Cortes, 43, in Encinar, Veracruz. “When you see these people, it moves you. It moves you. Can you imagine how far they’ve come?” from retired seamstress Angela Andrade Cruz, 71, of Encinar. “God says when I saw you naked, I clothed you. When I saw you hungry, I gave you food. That is what God teaches,” from Angela Andrade Cruz. “It feels good to give something that they need so badly,” from knickknack seller Jesus Gonzalez Roman, in Encinar. “I figure when I die, I can’t take anything with me. So why not give?” from Esperanza Roman Gonzalez, 78, in Encinar. “What if someday something bad happens to us? Maybe someone will extend a hand to us,” from Leticia Rebolledo in Fortin de las Flores, Veracruz.

Approach to Cordoba and its station: from Enrique and from Nazario’s observations.

Train cargoes and cost of immigrant injuries: from Cuauhtemoc Gonzalez Flores, chief of accident investigations for the Transportacion Ferroviaria Mexicana railroad.

Robbery at Cordoba station: from Enrique and from Nazario’s observations at the shed where it happened. Other immigrants gave accounts of similar robberies at Cordoba. Money earned in Tierra Blanca: from interviews with Enrique. Exchange between police in Cordoba and Enrique during the robbery: from Enrique. The chief of state police who would not comment is Marulio Martinez Meneses in nearby Fortin de las Flores.

Overnight in Cordoba and train ride to Orizaba: from Enrique and from Nazario’s observations riding the same route. Words Enrique used to beg food in Orizaba: from Enrique. Camaraderie with others aboard the train, preparations for the cold to come: from Enrique and from Nazario’s observations of other immigrants at Orizaba. What Enrique told himself after he reboarded the train: from Enrique.

Tunnels: from Enrique and switchman Juan Carlos Salcedo and observations by Nazario and photographer Don Bartletti as they rode through the tunnels on top of a freight train. Information on the danger of the El Mexicano tunnel is from Jose Agustin Tamayo Chamorro of the Ferrosur railroad. What immigrants yell as they ride through the tunnels: from Enrique, confirmed by Nazario’s observations.

Train ride from Orizaba to Mexico City: from Enrique. Riding a train on the same route, Nazario and Bartletti observed what immigrants do to keep warm.

Hostility in Mexico City: from Enrique, other immigrants and residents near the Lecheria train station, including Margarita Lopez. Information about Lecheria is based on interviews with Enrique and on Nazario’s observations of the neighborhood and the culvert where he waited for a train.

What Mexico City residents said as they rebuffed Enrique’s pleas for food: from Enrique. Words by the woman who found immigrants dirty and frightening: from Lecheria resident Margarita Lopez.

Electrical lines: from Enrique and Cuauhtemoc Gonzalez Flores of Transportacion Ferroviaria Mexicana and from Nazario’s observations at the railroad’s computer center. Voltage and arc are corroborated by a U.S. National Electric Safety Code suggestion that rail personnel stay at least 3 feet away from such wires to prevent electrocution, according to Rich Falcon, head of the electrical committee of the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance of Way Assn.

Mexico City to San Luis Potosi: from Enrique and from Nazario’s observations while riding on a freight train along the same route.

Number of security officers at the San Luis Potosi station: from Marcelo Rodriguez, chief of security at the station for Transportacion Ferroviaria Mexicana.

Making bricks and Enrique’s stay in San Luis Potosi: from Enrique and interviews with brick makers, including Gregorio Ramos, Jose Morales Portillo and Juan Perez. Enrique’s words about persisting toward the border: from Enrique.

Trip to Matehuala: from Enrique and from Nazario’s observations during a bus ride on the same route. Overnight in Matehuala and the exchange with kindly man: from Enrique.

Words Enrique used to ask for a ride: from Enrique. Reluctance to give rides to immigrants: from Modesto Reyes Santiago, a truck driver, and Faustina Olivares, owner of the No Que No diner, which is frequented by truckers.

Matehuala to Nuevo Laredo: from Enrique and from Nazario’s observations as she rode in a similar truck between the cities.

Exchange between Enrique and the truck driver who gave him a ride: from Enrique. Words on signs: from Enrique, confirmed by Nazario’s observations.

Enrique’s arrival in Nuevo Laredo, the camp and thoughts about his mother: from interviews with Enrique two weeks later.