The journey of Victor Pablo

Born in Santiago, Guatemala, Victor Pablo would venture to the mountains and the lake near his town for adventure and entertainment throughout his childhood.

As he got older, Victor studied to be an accountant and soon met the the love of his life, Miriam. After Victor finished school, he and Miriam got married and decided to move to Panajachel, where her mother owned a home that they would live in.

For Victor, he saw moving to Panajachel, a city known for welcoming many tourists and having more jobs than Santiago, as an opportunity. He became a Tuk Tuk driver and learned English by trading free Tuk Tuk rides for English classes and by talking to many tourists as they visited. During that time, he and Miriam welcomed a son, Eddy, who is now seven-years-old.

“He [Eddy] is my reason for doing everything,” said Victor. “I want him to be successful in his life. That’s why I wanted to do something for the future. I have a lot of ideas, but so far, it’s getting worse here. There’s no good work. Everything gets down.”

With family needs, money being scarce, COVID-19 hindering the ability work, and a government that doesn’t advocate or help people like Victor and his family, he made a difficult choice to try and cross the border to the U.S. in search of more opportunities in September of 2020. His journey was incredibly difficult from start to finish, but it was something he felt he needed to do in a last-ditch effort to provide for and help his family.

Deciding to cross the border…

“My wife got pregnant in the city, but we lost the baby and it cost us a lot right there because everything was private. The only way I could come up with the money was by borrowing and then paying everything there [to the clinic]. But, then you have to pay it back, so I had to borrow money to pay THAT back.
I also saw a lot of things in my family. My grandfather and parents are older. I wanted to help them and provide them some food or medicine if they needed anything.
Then, COVID came. I thought they were going to close the country for one week and everything would get better. But everything got worse and worse. I couldn’t go to work or outside. Curfew was 3 p.m. here and no one could go out. It made me feel so bad and helpless.”

Victor had been working to get a visa. His dear friends – Mary Kay and Pat Brautigan – had a job ready for him and were helping him with his paperwork. However, despite having all his paperwork submitted and his passport, Victor couldn’t get approved.

He later got in touch with a friend in Boston, who told him if he wanted to come to the U.S. and could find someone to help him cross the border, he would drive his car to McCaulley, Texas and pick him up. Victor found a guide and decided to go. His goal was to get into the U.S., stay for two years, pay his bills, raise money, and then return to Guatemala to start a business and help his family.

“The opportunity to get a better life for my family and to have a way to help my family. Everyone in my family. That was the purpose for me to try and cross all of Mexico to get to the United States.”

Getting into Mexico…

“I started my trip from the border between Guatemala and Mexico.
They crossed us on the river with those little floats and the tires you see in pictures. Then, they took us to a private house in Mexico.
They gave us food and everything was okay. They put us in a fancy car and drove us around for about three hours.”

Within those three hours, Victor was driven to another city. He was kept in a house there for a day and a night with several others. Then, they were off to Mexico City.

“The trip really starts from there. They gave us only two bottles of water and a package of cookies.”

Off to Mexico City…

“They put us in a big trailer. There were about 45 of us and we drove for 26 hours. There were no lights, we couldn’t go to the bathroom, no nothing. They only had buckets. It was dark inside and so, so hot. I was feeling the air and wanted to breathe.
After 26 hours, we were in Mexico City. There, they took us to a house. They treat people there so poorly.
In that small house, there was like 80 people, maybe more. With only three rooms! It was small. It was disgusting and so bad. The food they gave us was horrible. And then everyone sleeps together. I’m so glad I didn’t get COVID.”

Victor and others in the house stayed there for one night. After that night, they were taken and put on a semi-trailer for 18 hours. Victor recalls about 225 people being in that trailer. After that, he was put in the cabin of the trailer with about 35 other people crammed together.

“Everyone was on top of me. We stayed for about four hours in that cabin of the trailer. We were on our way to Monterrey.”

In Monterrey (last stop before the border)…

“We stayed for three days in Monterrey, waiting until the police were gone because it was hard to cross.
We actually did get caught in Monterrey before we got to the border, but our guides talked to the police and I think they gave them money and they let us go.
Trust me, everything in Mexico is so, so corrupt. All the police, they work together with all the criminals.
The very night we got to the border, we found a big group of criminals. Everyone had guns. And then they came to us and checked if we had knives or anything that would hurt them. They took phones away from people, but they didn’t do it to me. They did it to everyone but me. It was all dark and they put us in a truck. In that truck, there was about 25 people.”

The truck took Victor to a house on the border. There, he met a whole community of people from all over who wanted to cross. They were from El Salvador, Honduras, Colombia, Nicaragua and more. He stayed at the home for two days and was given minimal food. After two days, Victor went to cross the border.

Crossing the border…

“The first time we tried to cross the border, it was like 2 a.m. and so busy. A lot were on patrol, there were helicopters. But I could see it. One side was Mexico and one side was the United States.
We waited there for about 30 minutes and then decided to go back to the house because it wasn’t possible to cross at that time. But, the guide came to us and told us to be ready in two hours…but it wasn’t two hours. He got back at seven in the morning. It was clear at that time!
I told him, ‘Why would we cross now? It’s clear!’ But he said if I wanted to stay here [at the home], to stay. I didn’t want to stay alone. And, you can’t tell them anything wrong because they will do whatever they want.
We crossed the river by 7:30 a.m. Then, we started to walk on the other side to get to the United States. We walked for about 45 minutes. It was wet, there was a lot of mud. And then a lot of trees with thorns. Everywhere there was a bunch of thorns, but we walked through it.”

After those 45 minutes, Victor’s guide became confused and wanted a phone to use a map. However, Victor could see the wall up ahead. The guide took Victor’s phone and told the group to continue to follow him. Just 10 minutes later, a helicopter emerged overhead. The group was told by the guide to run.

“You can feel the pressure of the air of the helicopter. The group went one way and I decided to go a different way. I thought that if I went a different way, they were going to go for the group, not one person.”

On the run…

“One of the police was running behind me. He was not good at running. But I stopped and hid myself in a tree. I saw he was looking for me.
Then, I remembered I had no phone and nowhere to go…so what can you do? And, I was so, so tired. I fell like three times running. I hurt my hands, face. I was bleeding in my face.
I laid down because I was so tired and weak. That trip makes you feel weak. After two or three minutes, the police got there.”

Victor was arrested. He pleaded with the officer to let him go and told him he had a friend on the other side waiting for him. The officer apologized and told Victor his story is one he hears many times a day. He also told Victor that they knew they were coming all the way back from the river.

“That tells me the patrol in the United States work with those in Mexico. There is a process there. They have to let a small group of people cross, because they receive money too. It’s a big business. So, we were part of the people they had to catch and put in jail. Then, the other group was able to cross and make it to the United States.”

Victor in jail…

“It was so, so sad for me. They put us on a bus and gave us a tour of McCaulley. It made me feel so bad. I saw all the nice houses and streets. And then we were back at the bridge to Mexico. They took our prints, name, where we were from, and they just let us go back into Mexico.
I had bad luck. The night before, there was a lady who tried to cross and they did the same thing to her. However, they let her go and she got back to the house. When we crossed the border back to Mexico again, patrol was waiting for us and took us straight to jail.
That jail was horrible. There was a lot of sick people and people on top of you. I was there for four days. They had to call my government to get us out. Nothing is for free.”

Victor was released from jail and put on a bus back to Guatemala. They drove for 38 hours, only to be let out in Tapachula – two hours from the Guatemalan border.

“They just let us out and said, ‘Go!’ I had the opportunity to try it all again, but I thought about my wife, family and didn’t want to repeat all of that again. So, the friends I made on the bus there, we all decided to go home. We got a taxi, raised money and got to our border by 10:30 p.m.”

Life for Victor now…

“Life for me today is really hard. Everyone is struggling right now. People are doing everything to keep their job, and I agree with that.
The government puts in the rules for the country, but they don’t help people. They don’t give us anything. The decision always effects the poor, not the rich people. I feel so hopeless.
But then, I think there is some hope for me. If I keep myself positive, things are going to change if I can support all the things here and what I can do for the future.”

Today, Victor cares for his family, picking up as many Tuk Tuk rides as he can to support them. He works hard to build positive and trustworthy connections with people in his community and abroad that keeps him hopeful, learning and inspired. He hopes to work for or start an organization in his community that mentors and supports children, especially those with disabilities. He wants to help his community think and act in a different way – a way that doesn’t take advantage of others, but one that provides help and support to one another and leaves children aspiring to study and have big dreams for their futures.

“I go with my heart. What you give is what you will receive. With that, I know something will come and happen, and I believe it will change my family’s life.”