Among the thousands of people who cross Mexico in this caravan, there are also people fleeing homophobia.
With a rainbow flag knotted around his neck, Honduran César Mejía visualizes a reality not so much noticed in the migrant caravan that currently crosses our country, as in migratory movements around the world; the existence of LGBTI people who migrate due to poverty, violence or discrimination that is often aggravated by their sexual identity.
After years of discrimination in his country, César feels free walking through Mexico and with this act full of symbolism, he vindicates the rights of LGBTI populations.
“I am escaping from poverty, from crime, discrimination, and everything, there is no work and there is nothing, there is no food, I believe that I have eaten more in this way than in my house, ” the original young man commented in an interview. of San Pedro Sula, one of the main cities of the Central American country.
At age 23, César was a volunteer of ‘Unidad Color Rosa’, an NGO that provides information to gays and transsexuals to prevent sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV.
“With what they gave me, it was not enough for me (…) Practically for transportation and this was my last job, although for me it was volunteering,” he added from Huixtla, where the contingent of more than 7 thousand people stopped. before continuing with the route with which they hope to reach the United States, a journey of more than 2,000 kilometers still.
In Honduras, Cesar lived with his mother. Together they faced the problems they had to make ends meet with their limited salary and the lack of income of their 62-year-old mother who, following the closure of a factory, is unemployed.
Since he assumed his sexual orientation, discrimination has been present in his life. “There they begin to call me culero (homosexual) and they insist that I am going to make children gay”, denounces and recalls that the violence has gone beyond the verbal because on one occasion they beat him.
Before the aggression, he filed a complaint, which did not prosper. An example of impunity in crimes in many Latin American countries, especially LGBTI people.
The crime also snatched three of his friends who were recently murdered in Puerto Cortés. “It was in a single event, they buried them, they veiled them, and they stayed there,” he added.
For him, the caravan means moving away from poverty and violence, and all this embraced by a message of acceptance.
“Here I have walked with my flag, I have walked any number of hours, days, and nobody tells me anything,” says César smiling.
Exposed to the media that follow this caravan that left Honduras on October 13, he now fears that, if he is repatriated to his native country, he will be more recognized and, therefore, more persecuted.
His goal is to reach the United States, but he is also afraid. “If I surrender for an asylum (migratory) perhaps I have years prisoner or days, and they return me to my country. (…) I can not return to Honduras ,” he says emphatically.
He longs to reach a land where he will thrive and feel liberated. And even, after solving their economic and family situation, fall in love.
But Cesar is not the only one. D anilo and Noé, two young gay men, and Loli Marceli and Chanta, two trans girls who decided to flee the country because of the great discrimination they suffer, often push them to marginal jobs such as sex work.
With information from EFE.
The Mazatlan Post Newsroom
