The Friends of Friendship Park are continuing their efforts to reopen Friendship Park after almost 3 years of being closed to the public. This has created animosity on the part of the federal government and the Border Patrol towards the binational community. As previously mentioned, Friendship Park is a bi-national park where people gather and reconnect with their loved ones in Tijuana. The problem occurs when people have been denied the possibility of being able to get close to their family members and denied the slightest physical contact with each other. This has caused tremendous distress among families living on both sides of the border who for years have been able to share food, music, and joy.
The Marchas de Silencio were created from the lack of commitment of the federal government, through Border Patrol, and ignoring the voices of the community asking for justice and equality. After the 9/11 attacks, the federal government created the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection as a subsidiary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Since the 2000s, this federal agency has engaged in demeaning and questionable human rights practices, but, in addition, has ignored the petitions of the binational community that arduously requested that the border fence should not be constructed. Since then, the community and civic organizations have raised their voices and petitions for the Border Patrol to listen but have been ignored.
The Marchas de Silencio were created, then, to give a direct message: everything that needed to be said has been said. Families suffer because they have been denied access to the border line set by the Border Patrol and the lines have been pushed back to the point of people being separated from their loved ones. The purpose of the silence is not to be silent, but to assert that everything that can be loudly denounced about the proposed walls has been said.
On the contrary, that silence represents social exhaustion toward racist and xenophobic institutions such as the Border Patrol and the total opposition to the replacement of the current wall with a 30-foot wall. These marches also emphasize the importance of Friendship Park as an area that represents the symbiosis of both cultures. The Marchas de Silencio raise the voices and lived experiences of people who have been historically ignored because they are “the other” or the minority.
Activists such as Pedro Rios and Maria Teresa have contributed wholeheartedly to the cause to reopen the park by photographing and capturing important moments of the marches. In addition to the binational community’s support for the cause, the great leadership of veterans’ rights activist Robert Vivar and Reverend and author John Fanestil, who orchestrate the Marchas de Silencio each Sunday and remind us that the fight for family reunification will not cease, stands out.
The Friends of Friendship Park invites you to participate in the decision-making relevant to the new border fence and to reach out to your community representatives, congressmen, and senators so that the 30-foot wall is not completed and above all, that there is access to the park so that people can maintain their family relationships with their loved ones, an essential element of peace and harmony.
To support this cause of solidarity, join the Friends of Friendship Park movement at friendshippark.org, and follow us on Instagram as @friendshipparkusmx, on Facebook as @FofPark, and on Twitter as @fofPark.
El Tribuno del Pueblo brings you articles written by individuals or organizations, along with our own reporting. Bylined articles reflect the views of the authors. Unsigned articles reflect the views of the editorial board. Please credit the source when sharing: tribunodelpueblo.org. We’re all volunteers, no paid staff. Please donate at http://tribunodelpueblo.org to keep bringing you the voices of the movement because no human being is illegal.
