A story I reported from Honduras and Virginia for BBC’s domestic service, Radio 4, is being rebroadcast today in slightly edited form on the BBC World Service program “Assignment.” “Cutting the Lifeline” looks at the impact of the financial crisis on Honduran migrant workers, their families, and their communities. The 23-minute piece was produced and narrated by former NPR correspondent and old Homelands friend Vera Frankl.
The timing of the broadcast coincides with news reports describing the massacre of 72 would-be migrants in northern Mexico. Among the dead were Hondurans, Salvadorans, Ecuadorans, and others trying to reach the United States. Several hundred migrant workers now die each year along the US-Mexico border. But it’s easy to forget how harrowing the journey is for everyone who risks it. An appallingly high number of those who now live and work in the US were raped, robbed, or injured on their way here. Our hearts go out to the families of the victims of this latest horror.
Jon