CPTnet
1 May 2006

MEXICO/U.S.BORDERLANDS REFLECTION: Mujer No Identificada

by Haven Whiteside

[Rose Whiteside, CPT reservist, was on the CPT Arizona team last June. She
died on November 23, 2006]

We are sitting in the back of the pickup at a water station in Sonora,
Mexico, one mile south of the border. It is noon time and hot. The
migrants are lying low right now, wherever they can find shade, but they
will start moving again at the end of the afternoon. Our group carries water
and small food packs in case we find someone who needs them. If not, we
will leave them by the trail for anyone who may come along.

Last year, 282 migrants were found dead in the desert. Why do they die?
Dehydration and exposure. The days are hot, in the nineties or higher, but
the nights are cold, in the forties and fifties. They can carry barely
enough water for the first day, and hope to get more when they meet their
ride. But that can take another day even if all goes well. And, what if
they have to wait an extra two or three days because of the migra (Border
Patrol) or the narcotraficantes (drug traffickers), or because they get
lost? Then the body loses water--more than a gallon a day. How much can
you lose before you die of dehydration?

My wife, Rose, died of dehydration in November after a bout with cancer.
Originally she weighed 134 pounds. When I picked her up near the end, she
was like a feather. After three weeks of taking in almost no food or water,
the body functions shut down one by one: digestion, elimination, motion,
memory, speaking, thinking, then seeing, and hearing, and finally breathing.
Is it like that in the desert?

Two weeks ago, we were at a vigil with a dozen other people, remembering
those who died in the Cochise County desert over the last six years. We lay
crosses beside the road, reading out the name of each victim, and
responding, "Presente," to indicate that each is remembered and present in
the spirit. Instead of a name, one cross has "Mujer no identificada"
(Unidentified woman), and instead of a date it says 2/04 (only the month.)
We will call her Desconocida (Unnown) because all we know is that she died
unknown, she died alone, and she died in the desert.

Desconocida probably was young, perhaps 25 or 35. She probably left loved
ones, possibly children, who may not know where she is.

The contrast was heartbreaking. My Rose lived 73 years before she died. And
her children all saw her in her last days and were at her funeral. We
buried her in the family plot, where she belongs.

Desconocida must have been buried with strangers, maybe in a pauper's grave
with no ceremony, no family, no funeral. Alone. And her loved ones do not
know what happened to her. Muy triste. Very sad.