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''El tren de la muerte'' ("The Death Train") refers to a network of Mexican freight trains that are utilized by U.S.- bound migrants to more quickly traverse the length of Mexico, also known as ''La Bestia'' ("The Beast") and ''El tren de los desconocidos'' ("The train of the unknowns"). This mode of travel is extremely dangerous and illegal. It is estimated that yearly between 400,000 and 500,000 migrants, the majority of whom are of Central American origin, continue to ride atop these trains in the effort to reach the United States. The National Migration Service (Spanish: Instituto Nacional de Migración (INM)) reports that of 64,061 foreign nationals that were detained in the year 2009, 60,383 were from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AMR41/014/2010/en/8459f0ac-03ce-4302-8bd2-3305bdae9cde/amr410142010eng.pdf )〕 Furthermore, according to the consul of El Salvador, Vilma Mendoza, "Around 30 percent of those who ride the trains are 'cyclical migrants'; men and women who attempt to return to the United States after deportation, or after a failed attempt". Other factors that have contributed to the mass exodus of Central Americans, according to (Juan Pardinas ), CEO of the (Mexican Institute for Competitiveness ), are "the precarious economic situation of their countries of origin, the consequences of civil and political-military conflict, as well as social and economic devastation caused by natural disasters, such as hurricanes". Although these trains (which transport products and materials including corn, cement, and minerals) are regarded as a free form of travel that allows migrants to avoid Mexico's numerous immigration checkpoints and 48 detention centers, the risks are high and many riders are left with life-altering injuries that limit their capacity to work. ==Passenger risks== Many of the dangers posed by this journey result from the train itself and the process of climbing aboard and getting off moving trains. Because migrants board between 10 and 15 trains during their 1450-mile journey, which typically begins in Arriaga, Chiapas, the chances of sustaining a major injury are high before they even arrive at Lechería station in Mexico City, which serves as a sort of halfway point before the train route scatters into various directions that head closer to different points on the U.S. border. It is not uncommon to visit rest homes and volunteer clinics where migrants with missing limbs are recovering from rail accidents. Often, migrants fall asleep while riding atop trains and are jolted off and onto the tracks where many are killed instantly by decapitation, blood loss, and shock. Because accidents often occur in the darkness of the night and in rural areas, victims are often not found immediately. If they do survive the fall, they must then wait for help because trains do not stop. After losing limbs to freight train accidents, survivors often feel ashamed to return to their home countries because they can no longer support their families and are in more severe circumstances than they originally began with. Apart from enduring moving trains, physical tiredness, and the extreme weather conditions that come with this journey, migrants must also cope with emotional stress. That is, being separated from family, traveling alone, and having a limited support system is also detrimental to the health and mental well-being of migrants. Other dangers endured by Central American migrants are fueled by discrimination and xenophobic attitudes which are themselves based on the unique positioning of Mexico as both a sender and receptor of immigrants. Amnesty International elaborates: "Mexico is one of the few countries in the world that is both a destination and transit route for migrants, and a starting point for emigration as thousands of Mexicans try to cross the border with the USA in search of work. This generates complex social, economic, political and cultural consequences for Mexico and its regional neighbours".〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AMR41/014/2010/en/8459f0ac-03ce-4302-8bd2-3305bdae9cde/amr410142010eng.pdf )〕 The vast number of migrants that pass regularly through the country are often seen as a nuisance which attracts crime. Migrants are vulnerable because of their undocumented status and lack of familiarity with personal rights, which renders them easy targets for harassment and abuse at the hands of corrupt officials and violent criminal gangs. Some of the dangers faced along the route north include: Robbery and assault, extortion, intimidation and threats, corruption, destroying of documents, detention without legal counsel, and sexually aggressive acts. According to a 2012 article for Commonweal Magazine, by Joseph Sorrentino,"The statistics are harrowing. Eighty percent of migrants will be assaulted or robbed. Sixty percent of migrant women will be raped. A lucrative side business for the drug gangs (especially the Zetas) is kidnapping migrants; they can get as much as $2,500 for each victim. Between April and September 2010, Mexico's National Human Rights Commission cited 214 mass kidnappings involving 11,333 people. And those are just the reported kidnappings".〔 A separate report by the National Human Rights Commission (Spanish: Comisión Nacional de los Derechos Humanos; CNDH) reported that, "Mexico () experiencing a hidden epidemic of kidnappings, with the majority of the most severe abuses occurring in the states crossed by the freight trains on the principal routes used by migrants, such as Chiapas, Oaxaca, Tabasco, Veracruz and Tamaulipas".〔 Although many Central American migrants lay victim to such crimes, fear of being deported and mistrust of corrupt officials makes it difficult to denounce these injustices. Migrants have been known to voluntarily hand themselves over to the National Institute of Migration (Spanish: Instituto Nacional de Migración (INM)) to be returned to their homelands. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「El tren de la muerte」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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