When I recovered from my wounds, I found out that they were looking for me. So, I moved to another part of Honduras. There I met my Claudia. We fell in love and had our daughter.
We went back to my hometown, but I was still being harassed, so I filed a complaint and that complicated the situation. Now they were more interested in taking my life.
We went to a different area, where we were able to find some peace for a few years, though always a bit hidden. Then someone told the boys where we were. We had to flee again and I realised my only option was to leave the country. That's how we got to this point in Tapachula, Mexico.
Our journey began by crossing the border from Honduras to Guatemala where we had a very bad time. It didn't matter that we had our passports: the police always stopped us, took us off the bus and took money from us. They told us: "you have no business here, you are illegal people". And so on and so forth. That's why it took us longer than planned.
"I filed a complaint and that complicated the situation. Now they were more interested in taking my life.”

Kidnapped in Mexico
Finally, we arrived at the Suchiate River [on the border between Guatemala and Mexico]. We came knowing nothing about it. When we crossed on the raft, a young man was waiting for us. We later found out he was from a criminal group.
They tricked us by telling us that they were a safe transport, then they took us and locked us in a house where there were armed men. They told us that we had to pay 2,000 Mexican pesos [approximately USD 110] per person if we wanted to get out of there – and there were three of us. In that place were many people in the same situation, about 150 or 180, including children, women, elderly people who were hungry and thirsty.
We managed to get relatives to send us money. They took me to collect it while Claudia and my daughter stayed in the house where we were being held hostage. It was very sad for me to leave them, but I had to do it. We were already desperate – very dirty, hungry and thirsty. The saddest thing is that many people had no money to pay and no-one to send them money, and I think that as long as they don't pay, they won't get out of there.
When we paid, they put a stamp on our arm and took us to a park in Tapachula, where they made us record a video in which we had to say that we recommend them, that they are very good people and that the work they do is excellent. This video that they made of us, and that they make of many people, they show it to other migrants to trick them and kidnap them as well. That's how they convinced us.
Once in Tapachula, I thought some people in the park might be able to help us get a cheap place to sleep, so we asked around, but it was no good. They recommended a place that we rented for 500 pesos [about USD 27] per night. On the third day we had no money or anything to eat, so we wanted to leave, but the owner told us that to leave we had to pay an extra 500 pesos per person so that we wouldn’t come to any harm if we wanted to continue our trip.
There were more people there with children, families who came innocently like us, who had to pay 3,000 pesos because there were six people. People were crying bitterly. There were vans coming in and taking away those who didn't pay. Those people were taken away. The men were going to lock them up until they sent them the money.
"We left Honduras with the purpose of finding security so that we could work and live in peace.”

How we survived
How am I able to tell you this? We were saved by a friend who told us about the possibility of seeking asylum here in Tapachula. That saved us, because he told the people who were holding us that we would stay here, that we would not continue our journey [to northern Mexico].
That's why I am grateful to NRC for the support. We've had a hard time here, sometimes we only eat once a day, but there are always good people who share with us.
We left Honduras with the purpose of finding security so that we could work and live in peace, either here in Mexico or in the United States. We don't feel safe here because we are aware that these guys [the Honduran attackers], these groups are big, and now that we have been in the hands of these people [the Mexican organisation], all that is needed is for them to show up here or realise that we are here. If that happens, that's the end of it. They move around a lot from Honduras, so I think they are the same criminal groups from there. We are in danger here because of that.
If we get asylum, if we have the opportunity, we would go to the United States, or we could also stay in Mexico, but not here [Tapachula] because we don't feel safe.
What are my dreams? I would like to have my own hairdressing business, I want to find a better future for myself, my wife and my daughter. I don't want my daughter to be insecure. I want her to be able to study, to be a professional, not to suffer what we are suffering, but to be able to help other people in the future. We have taken the risk to give her a better future and we also want to be a hope for our family in Honduras.
"I don’t want my daughter to be insecure. I want her to be able to study, to be a professional, not to suffer what we are suffering."
*Names and other details have been changed to protect the protagonists of this story.

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