Notre Dame sister begins work at Human Rights Center

On Aug. 12, Eddie Canales received a phone call at the South Texas Human Rights Center from a distraught dad. The man had work authorization papers and was employed in a northern state in the US. His 20-year-old son had left their home in Guatemala on July 9 in an attempt to cross the Mexico-US border to join him. Though father and son had managed to communicate during most of the journey, suddenly the communication stopped. Receiving news that his son had been left behind due to the inability to continue, the dad called the Human Rights Center.

Could they please find his son, he asked.

Given the dates and knowing the wilderness terrain through which the young man and his group were traveling, it seemed most likely that we were now looking for the remains of the young man.

The information that Eddie gathered in the phone call gave us these clues: The young man and his group had fled from a car at a given intersection and had run for about an hour. When the young man could no longer move forward, he was left under a tree. Somewhere nearby were "little mountains" and water.

Three of us from followed the clues. We drove nine miles west from Falfurrias to the intersection where the boys started running north for about an hour. We drove on the two-lane mostly deserted road with nothing but flat land and brush, cacti and low bushes on both sides. The terrain was impenetrable to the eye; even the earth right next to the road was invisible due to high grasses.

The clues were minimal but unique. Since the land was flat, the little mountains would be evident. Since the land was parched, the water would be evident. Since there were lots of bushes but few trees, the tree would be evident. Or so we hoped.

It was estimated that we were working within a five-mile radius. But we had more questions than answers. How far in from the road had they run? On which side of the road? How fast could they run through the sand and cacti and bushes? How did they measure the time of one hour? Did they run in a circle or lose direction? Truly, we were looking for a needle in a haystack.

At a distance of a bit more than five miles, a rancher was using big equipment to dig a caliche pit, extracting earth that had a high content of gravel that was used for building roads. In the process, mounds of dirt had been formed. It seemed we had found the little mountains. No one was around and the gate was unlocked. We trespassed to inspect the area on foot but found nothing. There were only the "little mountains," no water and no trees. And the little mountains were visible from a distance on all sides.

We retraced our drive thinking that they could not have traveled much farther. This time we paid attention to the other side of the road. Eddie walked near the fence?most properties are surrounded by wire fencing?through the tall grasses looking through to the land and looking for breaks in the fence. Nothing.

But we did note something.

At one point where the little mountains were still visible was a road sign indicating that we were crossing a creek. And there was a lovely shade tree right there. Perhaps the young man had been left here. Once again Eddie walked through the tall grasses to the base of the tree. I did not yet have boots to walk through the places where it was possible to encounter a rattlesnake.

Nothing.

No water was visible, but perhaps it was there earlier and had dried up. There was no evidence that the young man had been there. We were convinced at this point, however, that this would have been the ideal place to leave the young man based on the clues and the surroundings. Since this location was in a neighboring county, we returned to the office and Eddie called the sheriff of that county. No, they had not found anyone dead or alive in that area in recent days.

Stuck again.

Eddie called the dad to report on what we had done and our suspicions that his son had been left under a particular tree. Eddie continued to probe the dad with questions. It seems that we really do need to find a place where there is real water.

That is where we are at this time. The search continues.

(Editor's note: Sister Pam Buganski with the Sisters of Notre Dame has been in Falfurrias for three weeks as part of her new assignment with the South Texas Human Rights Center. She will contribute periodic reports for the readers of the South Texas Catholic Web site.)