European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 15, 1981, Darmstadt, Hesse New Mexico maps Trace Bernabe Zaray trip from Ahu Catlan 1 to Queretaro 2 and up to Sonoita 3 by from he and his companions travel to Pia Oik 4 in first by truck along the Border and then across on smuggler takes them by car to Phoenix where Zaray is arrested by Border patrol and sent first to Tucson then to Mexico after taking bus to Santa Ana Don Berna retraces arrives Back in Phoenix y95ey of the new York times maps unfortunate by John Crewdson new York times it was the sweetest and gentlest of desert eve pitch Black except for a Sliver of new Moon and the Light from a Hundred thousand a Coyote scampered among the stately Organ pipe cac its occasional Mournful howl slicing the silence like a jagged presently the stillness was broken by a softer a two toned for half a minute there was Noth then an identical whistle was heard from beyond the followed by a Flash of Light and an answering the signal that the Way was within shadowy figures emerged from the smiling and talking they gathered in a Circle near the Little used after a Bernabe Garay stepped a cheerful Man with a fondness for battered Don Berna had led the others to by third from their Stone poor Village in the Sierra Madre by pickup at danger from the Border town of Sonoita to the Gap in the barbed wire a few hours at they had become illegal aliens on pressing wary of rattlesnakes and Border to a prearranged pickup Point there in the Arizona As it would they had yet to face the greatest obstacles in their journey in search of work in the Citrus Groves around like uncounted millions of their countrymen before like the millions who will follow their Wellborn they were driven North by the astounding poverty of Rural where life reduces to the simplest of equations work or but there was no work for them in and so they were in the Arizona As it they were among the last men to leave the Village for the Only ones left there Don Berna Are those that Are older than despite his 55 Bernabe set the others a rapid they covered the 20 mites from the Border in four but they Are Mountain men from the mexican Village of and for them such walk is a brisk the first leg of their journey was remarkable Only for its As in years the 60 men of Ahu Catlan travelled for two Days and nights by third class bus to the mexican Border town of so a favored jumping off place for those seeking to enter the United states they expected no but this year the crossing proved More nettle some than it was near Why that 13 immigrants from Al Salvador died last abandoned without water by mexican guides unfamiliar with the unforgiving ways of the de the discovery of their dehydrated bodies caused some embarrassment to the immigration authorities in who Are now cracking Down on illegal Border the men of Ahu Catlan Are old hands at such Cross Ings Don Berna has been coming to the United states to work for nearly three decades and they know enough to walk through the desert in the Cool of the it was in finding someone to take them to the crossing Point that they encountered the that monday Don three of his sons and four other wearing the Straw Cowboy hats favored by workers from gathered under a Bridge Over a sluggish Creek in Sonoita to plan their in a Dusty Gully littered with red and Silver Tecate Beer the men huddled Over marking the spot 30 Miles East of town to which a Man with a had promised to take them for despite his Bernabe climbed the Creek Bank like a Mountain walked to a nearby pay Telephone and placed a Call to a number in the voice on the other end assured him that transportation would be wait ing at the pickup Point in the Papago Indian but when Bernabe Jose the Driver announced his reluctance to make the anyone caught driving workers into the desert these Days was sure to get in Jose although for he might consider taking the another conference was but the answer was the workers feel that it is too much said As it grew about half of the eager to reach decided to set off along the Border on but Bernabe and the sensing some kind of elected to stay behind in Ever sold them tacos filled with Beans and a mexican sausage called Chorizo that his wife had prepared for just such an eventuality it was not until later that Bernabe and his friends Learned How Lucky they a Border patrol agent Don Berna picking fruit in from the tiny station at Riding his horse at found the tracks left by the splinter group As they came across the for six hours the mexicans the agent hard on their shortly after they reached the ranch of a Papago Indian named who they hoped could arrange rides to Phoenix for but they were met instead by other Border patrol including one in an while fellow villagers spent monday night in the Gila Bend Bernabe and the others slept soundly on the ground in when they awoke the of next morning they went again to visit they had they told to pay his at Jose arrived with his collected his Money and drove the men to a desolate spot East of Sonoita where crossing the Border is As easy As crossing the there is almost no Border there at just a barbed wire Fence Strung Between red Metal its twisted strands holes Large enough for a Man to climb by the group was walking there Are Only five Border patrol agents assigned to this mile stretch of and mass arrests like the one at Davids ranch Are not an everyday the real danger is from the rattlesnakes that come out to bask in the Cool of the desert stepping on one Means being and those who pass through this country Tell of the skeletons they see along the it was when they reached the pickup a Large Sand Dune just off Arizona which leads directly to the the Moon had set an hour but the sky was As someone with Cinquenti literally 50 but figuratively for men from a poor Village like aha 50 of anything 50 50 50 acres of land is an unimaginable As he stood with the others waiting for a Bernabe spoke about the Village he would not see again until the Citrus Harvest ended next and about his and the five children he had left he was very sorry not to be he but this is the Only Way i can make just bouncing across the desert in a rattle rap Blue there came a Welcome a 18 year old alien smuggler named wearing the Black leather jacket that is the unofficial badge of his Ricardo at least that was the name he was using that night is himself an illegal from he said the mexican state with a reputation for producing fast for Ricardo was to drive the men to seven at a two trips that night and two the for two Days he stood to Clear nearly the kind of Money that has made alien smuggling a booming at those Ricardo could afford a much better but he developed a taste for junk heaps last after the Border patrol began impounding vehicles used to transport illegal his profits Are but Ricardo also has a lot of Idle he was at Why most of the previous for waiting for the men who had decided to stay in it was just As an undercover customs wearing an outlandish Cowboy had been cruising up and Down the Back stopping and searching every car in but this tuesday the agent was nowhere to be Bernabe Garay left with other mexicans in Al after arrival from his three sons and four others piled into Ricardos and Ricardo sped off toward his taillights glowing red against the blackness of the rugged since its founding in the late 16th aha Catlan has endured 400 years of Solitude without hidden away in the Blu Green Sierra is reached by a twisting roller coaster of a High enough in some places that travellers can reach out and touch the so so inconsequential a place is it that Resi dents of san Juan Del 100 Miles to the have never heard its like hundreds of villages across Central Ahu Catlan these Days is Only half a a Village without fathers or a thousand people the women and the old and the Idle live there now and perhaps another All Are in the United i Call my Parish a widows padre Tomas the handsome Young Village said with a sigh As he sat in the rectory of his crumbling most of the wives Are alone Here with their this is a very big problem for the family each the men go and each summer they bringing dresses and gifts Money from so closely is Ahu Catlan bound to the american Economy that the preferred medium of Exchange there is not the peso but the each fewer men return to Ahu Catlan than left the year and it is always to Tomas that their wives bring the official telegrams for they have an Accident in the he or by the or by the or there is no word at All they go and we know nothing about their wives go to the some of these they want to marry but they there is no divorce in with a husband and three sons working in Ameri Pilar she hoped she would be Able to make ends in the old Bernabe alone might manage to save Only in an entire with the beginnings of unionization in the Arizona Citrus wages have and last season he sent Home this with and 18year old Bernabe working they May save As much As but nearly a Quarter of that must be set aside for next years is she sad that her husband and sons will not be Home for Christmas Pilar Muy but Ber Nabe has not been Home for the last 29 except for when he fell off a ladder in the broke three ribs and came to Ahu Catlan to it was just North of that Ricardo the smug Gler ran out of As his car rolled to a Bernabe and the other passengers burst out and scrambled up the Hill to hide in the Brush at the Side of the the men watched a policeman they watched As he spoke Over his and they watched the Border patrol Cruiser drive up and take Ricardo All night they stayed in the and they were very at Dawn Kiko Garay made his Way carefully Down from the Hillside and found a one Call to the efficient underground smuggling and another ride was on the Ricardo was As Are most illegal to return to Mexico a practice that saves the immigration and naturalization service much time and had he been caught with Bernabe and the he almost certainly would have spent a minimum of six months in jail for alien but this arrest was a minor the next Day Ricardo was Back in Phoenix and Back in when Bernabe and the others reached Phoenix on wednesday they went to the ranch where they worked last the Lemons were not yet ready for so they spent that and the setting up renewing old friendships and play ing it was not until thursday As the desert air began to that Bernabe remembered the blankets that he left the summer before with his Manuel it would be much he had thought than carrying them Back he resolved to get them in the in past the Border patrol raided the Citrus ranches every so picking up the workers and Send ing them Back to but this because of Man Power shortages and new such raids have been very once they reach the ranches the workers Are virtually Safe from it is when they venture out that they court and so it was Early that Friday when Ber Nabe and Kiko went round to Manuel Diazs House to retrieve the he was not at and As they walked away from his House a Lime Green Border patrol Van screeched to a halt in front of it was at that Point that Don Bernabe father of a Man of respect and influence in Secretary general of the struggling Arizona far workers became a the next hours were unpleasant Bernabe and Kiko were taken first by the Border patrol to the station in then to a holding cell in at 9 that night they were driven to and let a week after leaving Bernabe was Back in on sunday he and Kiko took the bus to Sonoita and set out again in search of Jose the they finally found him and struck another for and on sunday the two men retraced their Steps along the through the desert and Back to nine Days after leaving poorer and without having earned a Penny to Send to Bernabe returned to the at 8 Oclock monday Bernabe finally went to he worked furiously All hauling his heavy Canvas bag up and Down the stepladders propped against the tall Lemon by he had filled his bag 82 times and picked pounds of an impressive total for a Man half his he was paid slightly Over a Penny a Pound but far More Money than he could have earned in Mexico in a if he could have found a Job Bernabe Garay was a Happy Man at new York Terrence Garay fellow alien in Al Mirage before being briefly returned to Page 14 the stars and stripes january 1981 the stars and stripes Page 15
