In what ways do Mayor Adan Díaz Ruiz of San Pedro Tapanatepec and Mayor Carlos Carrasco of Las Anonas agree and/or disagree about how people should respond to the migrants passing through their communities
Mayor Carrasco is compassionate and caring, he helps the immigrants when he can and has even taken some into his home. Diaz, on the other hand, turns the other and says that the immigrants get what they deserve for taking the journey in the first place. For him, it's all about the cost.
Mayor Carrasco gives Enrique a shirt and shoes. He has cared for injured immigrants before. Some have died. Giving Enrique clothing will be futile, Carrasco thinks, if he can’t find someone with a car who can get the boy to medical help.
Adan Diaz Ruiz, mayor of San Pedro Tapanatepec, the county seat, happens by in his pickup.
Carrasco begs a favor: Take this kid to a doctor.
Diaz balks. He is miffed. “This is what they get for doing this journey,” he says. Enrique cannot pay for any treatment. Why, Diaz wonders, do these Central American governments send us all their problems?
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Sending this boy to a doctor would cost the county $60. Burying him in a common grave would cost three times as much. First, Diaz would have to pay someone to dig the grave, then someone to handle the paperwork, then someone to stand guard while Enrique’s unclaimed body is displayed on the steamy patio of the San Pedro Tapanatepec cemetery for 72 hours, as required by law.
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In the end, however, he agrees to do the right thing..... Diaz agrees to help him.
“We will help you,” he tells Enrique finally.
Enrique's Journey
