The trip begins in the Guatemalan village of Tecum Uman, separated from Mexico by the Suchiate River. Some 350,000 illegal immigrants attempt to cross the river each year. A real ordeal begins for them, at the end of which the luckiest will perhaps succeed in entering the United States. The price can reach $10,000. Fear is there, everywhere, omnipresent: fear of the authorities, of the corrupt police, of the gangs who control access to the trains. Rape, assault and forcible confinement are commonplace.
