The Price of an American Dream

By Domingos Jardo Muekalia

Juan Ramirez, a native of Mexico, embarked on an exhilarating adventure into the US through secret underground tunnels in pursuit of the American dream. When he made it to San Antonio, Juan moved on to Orlando, where he fell in love with a young lady from Puerto Rico. Together they built a successful life during the construction boom of the late 90s. When the 2007 recession came, it hit the housing market hard and Juans world tumbled. Frustration and despair led those around him to seek comfort in the fleeting passion of forbidden love. In the hurricane of that forbidden love Juan lost his life trying to preserve his family and his American dream.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jan 13, 2014
• ISBN: 9781493161515

Domingos Jardo Muekalia

Domingos Jardo first came to the US in 1986 as an advocate for freedom and liberty in Angola, his native country. He cherishes the opportunities provided by the American society and developed empathy for those who risk their lives coming to America in search of a better future. Before coming to the US, he was in London for four years. He holds a masters degree in international relations from the Institute of World Politics in Washington DC and is currently an adjunct professor at the University of the Potomac. He lives in Virginia with his wife and three children.

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Copyright © 2014 by Domingos Jardo Muekalia.

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the

product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance

to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Rev. date: 01/09/2014

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In the 1980s, Mexico’s economy was in crisis, hampered by a number of factors, including the Chiapas armed rebellion, which caused investors to take their money elsewhere, decades of increasing spending by the government leading to debt and hyperinflation, and low oil prices. By 1994, the crisis was so severe that President Clinton saw it necessary to invoke emergency powers to grant a $20 billion loan to Mexico, hoping to stabilize the country’s economy and ward off the eventual wave of economic refugees crossing the border into the US looking for better fortunes in life.

In the midst of that economic crisis, Juan Ramirez, a construction worker from Guadalajara, Mexico, grew increasingly worried about his future. In his early forties and once a successful owner of a small size construction business, Juan found himself on the wrong side of the economic downturn and saw his business crumble and his lifestyle vanishing before his own eyes. Early in 1990, he concluded that he stood a better chance of improving his future if he sold his apartment and took whatever money he had left across the border into the US to start afresh in the new world. After all, America was the land of opportunity, and countless other Mexicans had headed north before, including some of his friends and former colleagues. Some had fascinating success stories and had built affluent lives from nothing, particularly in the construction industry, reinforcing the mystic about the American dream. He knew he would start from a better position than most of those who preceded him. He had some money, experience in the construction business, and although in his early forties, he was still single with neither wife nor kids to look after.

He had heard from his friends that left before about an organized secret network—nicknamed Los Coyotes by the people—whose expertise was to transport interested clients and sneak them across the border into the US. However, Juan wanted to come to the US legally. So he went to the American consulate to apply for a visa, hoping that once he was in America he could simply join the millions who never leave and fight to change their status from within. He gathered all the papers the consulate required of him, filled out a tourist visa application form, and submitted his case, expecting approval. However, somehow the consulate officer suspected that he was not a simple tourist. Juan was completely transparent in providing information about his situation. He had sold his apartment, his business had tanked, he was in his early forties, yet he had neither a wife nor kids in Mexico. The officer put two and two together and concluded that Juan was not coming back to Mexico. His visa was denied.

Frustrated, Juan believed he had no time to waste in Guadalajara. He decided to look for Los Coyotes and find out what the requirements to enlist were. The price was $5,000 and the risk extremely high. The supervisors of the network offering those secret services demanded full payment in advance, the signing of a nondisclosure agreement, and a set of two passport pictures. The service included two additional attempts in case the first one failed. Juan decided to try his luck, convinced that in three attempts his chances of making it were pretty good.

After a number of visits with the supervisors, the date for his first attempt was set. Juan was nervous, but the push and pull factors seemed to speak louder than his fear. On the push side, he had no hope of improving his lot in Mexico; his friends had either left before him or had migrated to other regions of the country. Most of those still remaining in the city had generally resigned to the situation. On the pull side, the American economy was doing far better than the Mexican economy, having improved further under Clinton’s last term; some of his friends had success stories to write home about, and the border did not seem that far away.

Juan concluded that his time had come to embark on the greatest adventure of his life. He was told to take a bus to Chihuahua, a town close to the northern border. He got there after riding for twenty hours on three different buses. Once there, he was taken to a place he could hardly recognize and was told to wait for instructions. The ride took about two hours and he figured he was about one hundred miles away from Chihuahua. The day went by and nobody bothered to ask if he had had something to eat. When the night fell, someone came to tell him to get ready. It was midnight when an old Land Rover finally came to pick him up. He was whisked to another place, which was surely the conventional meeting point. There, he was taken to a dark room. The lights were so dim that he could only see silhouettes of those around. He made an effort to scout the room and was pleasantly surprised to realize that he was not alone. There were silhouettes of about nineteen other human beings, including six women, on that secret trail to prosperity. He sat down next to one of them and tried to start a conversation. One of the supervisors quickly intervened and issued a stern warning against chatting. The Coyotes did not want the passengers to know each other or share information while on Mexican soil. They were told to be patient as they waited for their departure. Everyone was quiet and lost in thought. Juan started having doubts about his decision. For a while, he thought he had landed on some secret base of the drug cartel web, but he had no options besides following their supervisor’s instructions.

Hours later, the sound of a truck gradually approached the place. The supervisor told them to get ready. Then he said, This truck will take you to another town within miles of the border from where you will cross to the ‘final destination’ in the evening.

A wave of energy lifted everybody up and they all rushed into the belly of that truck as the driver counted them one by one. Juan was astonished when the driver turned to the supervisor and said, The cargo is loaded and I am ready to depart. The supervisor nodded and the truck zoomed off. It had neither windows nor comfortable seats. As they rode on, Juan felt indeed like ‘cargo’ in that truck. How could I reach this point? he asked himself. He had doubts whether all that sacrifice would be worth the new life he was after. Six hours later, they were still riding that uncomfortable truck. They were not allowed to stop, even when Mother Nature called. Those who had to go badly were happy to discover that that moving dark chamber had little containers on the floor for that purpose. By that time, Juan was becoming nervous. For all he knew, that truck could take them to some obscure place, dump them into a ditch, and no one would ever know except the ring leaders of that secret and elaborate operation. His heart was pounding, but the presence of others in that truck served as an encouraging factor. Hours later, they reached the new destination. The truck backed into a house and they all got off and went to the back of the house where there was a covered and completely fenced yard. It was just after noon. The supervisor insisted on the no talk policy to avoid attracting attention from the neighbors. Since this group came together, this was the first time they could clearly see each other’s faces and complexion. The smiles and the body language was enough to relieve the fatigue, revive confidence, and remove the worst fears out of Juan’s head. They were given food to eat and some to take. Then the supervisor proceeded to brief them. According to the plan, they would leave again at nightfall and will be dropped at a location from where they will have to walk about ten miles to the border. Once they reach the border, they will be led to the crossing point. They should be on the other side no later than 2:00 a.m. Once on the American side, the guide will lead them to another location, fifteen miles away, where they will rest during the day. They needed at least three hours to walk those fifteen miles and they had to reach the resting place before sunrise to avoid being spotted by the border patrols. Juan’s head was turning. He quickly understood the importance of reaching the resting point before sunrise. He did the math and concluded that they would have to walk a total of twenty-five miles that night. Following an eight-hour uncomfortable ride, it’s quite a lot to bear, he thought. However, according to the supervisor, once they set on that trail, there was neither time to waste nor a chance to turn back. The only choice was to keep moving forward. All the cargo elements said that they were ready for the challenge.

The supervisor continued his briefing. At nightfall, a truck will pick you up from the resting place and drive you to the nearest city. From there, each one of you will be free to choose where to start a new life. He never specified which city it was and how they could start that new life. Those were details left for their imagination. The mission of the coyotes was to end once the cargo was safely dropped on the land of opportunity. After that, each of them had to make individual plans to move to the city or town of their choosing within the promised land.

After the briefing, Juan was excited to be so close to his dream, yet extremely concerned about two things. He asked the supervisor why they were not informed of the amount of miles they will have to cover on foot and what would happen should something go wrong in that plan. Some of us may not be used to walking such long distances, he concluded.

The supervisor looked at him and said, "It is too late now. From here, there is no return unless you are willing to exchange your freedom with jail or risk your own life. To your other question, if something