If any common American were asked to describe their idea of a policeman, the most common answers would include words like safety, protection, defense, and/or authority. Common answers from American children would go along the lines of a man wearing blue with a shiny badge in a car that goes "weee-woo weee-woo!" However, in the first half of Enrique's journey, a reader may quickly identify that although the perception of policemen in America is somewhat positive, just a few miles across the Mexican border policemen are regarded with a negative connotation. In the novel, central Americans trying to gain access illegally to the United States are under a constant fear of assault, battery, larsonay, and robbery by the police. When Enrique stumbles into a field in Las Anonas, Mexico, he is bloody and naked. A mayor from a nearby town tells his driver to take Enrique to a clinic to receive medical attention. On the road, the driver stops to discuss personal business with a policeman in a white pickup truck--the same policeman who robbed Enrique just the day before. When Enrique tells this to the driver, the driver is not surprised, saying, "The judicial police routinely stop trains to rob and beat migrants". How can the people in Central America feel safe when the men who are assigned to protect them are violating their safety and commiting crimes against them?
This book has been showing me the differences between the North and Central Americas. I cannot understand how all of the problems with the police system began. However I have one question that keeps coming up: Why are systems of protection in these Central American countries so different from the ones in the United States. Why does the level of corruption increase as one goes south?
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