La Bestia and its significance

Five accidents in 15 days seem to have been enough to get the Mexican authorities to impose order, finally, on the train known as La Bestia or “The Beast.”

This freight train, which brings thousands of Central Americans from Mexico’s southern border to enter the United States, has been a point of discord in immigration policy and a reflection of what it represents for Hondurans, Guatemalans and Salvadorans, primarily, on their way through Mexico.

Last Friday, Mexico’s Secretary of the Interior, Miguel Angel Osorio Chong, said migrants would no longer be allowed to board the train, and new measures would be taken in the coming days to regulate The Beast’s operation.

This is no gratuitous announcement, but rather one that has major repercussions for the nearly 200,000 migrants who use it each year.

The Beast has become “famous” in its own right—not for its good nature, but for the danger it represents.

Accidents, amputations, assaults, kidnappings and prostitution are just a few of the problems arising on this railway.

Yet migrants have no other options for getting to the U.S. border. For years, pro-immigrant activists have called on the Mexican government to provide free passage to those coming to this country, so they can use authorized transportation operators and not have to travel incognito, but like any other passenger.

The question now is: if the Mexican government prevents people from getting on the train, what options will it give them so they are not left hanging as potential victims of organized crime?

The Mexican government has not yet spelled out a specific plan, which it will do in the coming days. Even so, Osorio Chong will have to take these factors into account