If you have visited with us during the last couple of years to work on the clinic or on a project in a village, then you have met and worked with our friend, Ramiro. I am sure you would recognize him if you saw him….short, black hair, bright smile. We affectionately call him “Maestro” because he is a master mason and expert in construction.
Ramiro has been an important member of our team working on the construction of the medical clinic in Ocosingo. So I was distressed and saddened to learn that he had joined 300 local men on a journey to the border and beyond to find work that pays a wage which would allow them to support their families. As a master mason, Ramiro can make more in one hour at a US construction site than we pay him for a day's labor here. We are paying our workers well above the average for their work on the clinic, but the draw of the dollar was too strong for Ramiro and his brethren.
Ramiro paid a “coyote,” a human smuggler, $18,000 pesos (about $1,650 USD at current exchange rate) to provide him safe passage across the border to the US. We learned from his brother that somewhere in the desert along the US border, Ramiro was abandoned by the coyote and left to find his way to the pick-up point where transportation was waiting for him. He apparently did not make it to the rendezvous.
After wandering around in the desert for several hours, he was found by another coyote who took him to a safe house. However, this coyote demanded another $1,600 USD before he would release Ramiro. Please pray for Ramiro and his family as they negotiate with this coyote for his release. Stay tuned for more news.
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Any news on Maestro? Does he need help? 80 Mexicans were recently freed from the same conditions- basically a holding house in Arizona. You're in my prayers. Thank you so much for your posts from Chiapas.
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