border visit may 5, 2019

Sunday May 5th 2019. Afternoon at Roxham Road, USA.
It was a busier afternoon  than we had seen in a long time.   In total 15 people crossed  today  (five children and 10 adults). We got there about 3:20, but a taxi was ahead of us already  bringing five adults.  They were of African origin speaking French but they preferred not to say where they were from.  One woman in the group was quite upset. The RCMP  stuck to the protocol of what to say.  This group of people seemed completely prepared to hear that they would be arrested and crossed into Canada without difficulty.  They were followed by a young man on his own from Columbia and who crossed quickly

A next taxi arrived with a family of four from Columbia who spoke only Spanish.  They were anxious to go across as soon as possible.  The last taxi  brought a very young family  also from Columbia with three very small children. The Mom was crying and the father was struggling with the luggage for the whole family.  An older RCMP officer, who had been unfriendly so far, saw the weeping woman and called to her, "Don't worry, you're safe here," which was nice.   They were told they cannot make two trips back and forth with the luggage (this is the case with everyone). The taxi driver helped the father load up all the luggage and stagger over the border.  They crossed without incident.

We found a baby car seat that had been abandoned at the border and brought it back with us to give away.

Spotlight on Columbia:  ''The 52-year armed conflict between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the government officially ended with a peace accord in 2016, but violence associated with armed groups increased again in 2018 after initial declines the 2015 FARC ceasefire. Civilians have suffered serious abuses at the hands of the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrillas, FARC dissidents, and paramilitary successor groups. Human rights defenders, journalists, indigenous and Afro-Colombian leaders, and other community activists have faced death threats and violence. Violence associated with the conflict has forcibly displaced more than 8.1 million Colombians since 1985.''   Many people have simply disappeared but the government does not help their families to find out the truth about the disappearances.
https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2019/country-chapters/colombia