El Norte: A film for John Reid

El Norte poster










We came only to sleep, to dream. All things are lent to us. We are only on earth in passing. Rosa's funeral song sang in Mayan.

Discussing the complicity of the right wing Reagan regime with Guatamala death squads, the lead actor in El Norte stated, according to wikipedia,

Fifteen years ago, the indigenous people in Guatemala were living a cruel extermination that forced them to flee toward Mexico and the United States. This exodus lasted a decade and half a million Guatemalans made the journey to America seeking for asylum and refuge...El Norte became a powerful fighting element, grew an audience, searched audiences, and left the theatres to tell its truth


Watched El Norte, an 1983 excellent Spanish/US film about Guatamalan peasants escaping death squads and poverty to go to 'El Norte' where they have flush toilets. They struggle through disused sewers into Las Vegas. But life in the north sees them suffer and remain as cheap labour for those with wealth and power.

Instructive for John Reid, planning new measures against migrants.

The Green Party of England and Wales in contrast 'has a liberal migration policy and wants greater global justice and equality, so people who migrate can do so on the basis of choice, not economic hardship. Where migration patterns increase or decrease population levels it is essential that social, economic and environmental pressures are mitigated in such a way which fully respects the rights of migrants and existing local populations.'

More details here.