Mexican Artist’s Coyote Sculpture Provides Services to US-Bound Migrants Agencia EFE
go to original June 9, 2017

View of a large sculpture in the shape of a coyote, in the municipality of Lecheria, central state of Mexico (EFE/Mario Guzman)

A Mexican artist’s large sculpture in the shape of a coyote (a word that in the Aztec nation also is slang for people smuggler) provides United States-bound migrants with water, a map of their intended route, a list of shelters and even medicine.

And it does so with no strings attached.

“This is a coyote that’s there to give, not take away. It’s a way to extend a hand to a migrant who gets off the train confused, who doesn’t know where to go,” Alfredo “Libre” Gutierrez, a native of the northwestern border city of Tijuana, said in a telephone interview with EFE.

Gutierrez has been making drawings of coyotes in several areas of the country as a show of solidarity with undocumented migrants, but he came up with the idea for the sculpture a year ago when he began working with these people at a shelter in Tacubaya, southwest of downtown Mexico City.

The sculpture, located at the Lecheria station in the central state of Mexico, is made of recycled wood, stands 2.6 meters (8.5 feet) tall, contains a map of Mexico on its left side and a list of the 85 migrant shelters in 21 Mexican states with their addresses and telephone numbers on its right side.

The goal of this work of art, which costs between 60,000-70,000 pesos (between $3,218-$3,755), depending on transportation costs, is to let migrants know that they are not alone and that someone is concerned about their plight.

“I’ve been able to hear migrants’ stories over the past few months. Many of them don’t know which states they have to cross to get to the United States, and that’s why I decided to put the map of Mexico on the coyote and a list of 85 shelters to facilitate their journey,” Gutierrez said.

The coyote’s tail also offers a space for people to leave water or medicine.

Read the rest at Latin American Herald Tribune

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