Two rows of apprentice swimmers vigorously stir the water in the pool to create a current that Darling, a Nicaraguan woman who is training to swim across the Rio Grande, set foot on the north shore and enter the United States illegally, must cross. United.
“We will be leaving soon, my daughter and I. That’s why we decided to learn a little“to swim, otherwise”you find yourself in the water and you are in danger because you don’t know how to get out of it“, explains Darling Molina, 38 years old.
Many illegal migrants have died trying to cross the Rio Grande, a river also called Rio Bravo in Latin America, which serves as a border between Mexico and the United States for more than 2000 kilometers.
Fleeing the political, social and economic crisis
Since the bloody repression in 2018 of the demonstrations against the government of President Daniel Ortega, there are tens of thousands of Nicaraguans who want to emigrate to the United States rather than to neighboring Costa Rica, until now the traditional destination for exiles from the country of Central America.
Fleeing the political, social and economic crisis, 111,872 of them were intercepted at the US border between January 2020 and February 2022, according to the United States Customs and Border Protection.
In February 2022 alone, 13,295 Nicaraguan migrants were arrested, compared to just 706 a year ago.
Survival techniques
The swimming course is organized in the town of Esteli, 150 km north of Managua.
With thirty years of experience, lifeguard Mario Venerio gives free lessons to those who want to emigrate to the north. He mainly teaches survival techniques and first aid gestures.
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