Tijuana Baja California, México.
December 21 will be the shortest day of the year, this means the official start of winter. The wall that divides the border between Mexico and the United States begins in Tijuana; 100 meters of steel form a line within the sea.
According to the Mexican government, a few days before the end of 2024, there will be an average of 83 homicides per day nationwide; many of them related to organized crime. It is a normal Saturday in Playas de Tijuana, the beach is full of families, enjoying the sun; I take photos.
Eduardo (47 years old) approached me to ask if I was a reporter, I answered yes.
– I want to tell you a secret, reporter.
By accident I discovered something that puts my life at risk. After years, this morning I
discovered that my mother and my sister do horrible things, that I don’t know if I can tell you.
What they do is so bad that I had to run away from my house because the two of them are
going to kill me; That’s right, my mom and my sister are going to kill me. My only chance to escape is by entering the sea and crossing that fucking wall. Because I’d rather drown there than go back, because if my mother catches me…I’d rather drown.
Carlos Eduardo Urías Ibarra is 47 years old, he looks nervous, scared, he wants to leave a message to someone before something happens to him; Let at least someone know his story.
– Oh another thing; I didn’t know it “wey” (buddy in Mexican Spanish), but supposedly they stole my identity “wey”. They did many things with my name, with my face, as if it were me. That’s what I discovered, that’s why now my mom and my sister want to kill me.
Eduardo’s mother and sister are the main people responsible for the operation, but there are many people behind them.
– They have been doing that for four years and I didn’t know about it. They did it secretly from my coal. My only escape is to cross, to get into the sea; and if the “migra” (US border police officer) wants to grab me, I’m going to hit him to make him take me away. I want them to take me there, to the US, and tell everything I know.
In May 2024 alone, more than eighty thousand Mexicans requested humanitarian asylum in the United States due to issues of persecution and violence. Eduardo cannot approach the border checkpoints; His mother and sister have them under surveillance, waiting to catch him. His only option is to cross by sea.
– It’s good that you took the photo of me, because if you book it, you will remember me. You will remember this face, because if I survive, I will tell them (CBP Customs and Border Protection US) everything that I know. Be careful son, take good care of yourself because they already watched that you and I were talking. I tell you, I prefer to drown, to be grabbed by my mother and all those people she has, because what they are doing are
many very strong things, and the police are colluding with them. I can’t go ask for help; the only reason I am alive is because the marines are here, patrolling the beach. Do you see that
lady with the children? She is here to take me.
Eduardo waited five hours for the tide to go out before jumping into the sea and crossing the wall. A CBP (United States Customs and Border Protection) agent approaches the shore and calls for help on his radio. Rescue teams arrive from both sides of the border; Eduardo is rescued and detained on the North American side.
In the 21st century, Mexico is experiencing a crime crisis like never before in its history. Hyper violence is a phenomenon that is not only due to political and macroeconomic reasons as in the past. Now it uses the decomposition of the social fiber where a man will be murdered by his mother and sister.
Eduardo has finally fulfilled his objective, he was finally detained by “La Migra”. He will surely spend Christmas in some ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) detention center, the agency in charge of border protection and immigration of the United States government. He has the right to be heard by an immigration court and have his case analyzed to reach a judge so that he can be granted asylum for violence.
The average number of homicides just in Tijuana is 8 per day, as of December 2024, the figure is 1,748 people murdered in the city. At least, this night Eduardo was not part of this number.
About the author: Manuel Leyva
Native to the desert of Mexico, Manuel was born in 1987. He graduate at UABC university in Baja California, Mexico. He has been published in Los Angeles Press an independent free journalism media and some NGO’s like Save The Children. His experience is built from assisting in large productions such as AMC’s “Fear the Walking Death” to being a filmmaker for international NGO’s such as Sea Shepherd, being fixer for photo art journalism, reporter and documentary film festivals like DOCS MX. Everything you will see on his website has been written, directed, photographed and edited by himself.
