Dear all
This is my story.
Arrival at Tijuana airport
On October 12, Reiner and I flew to Tijuana to pick up our passports and visas. This has been arranged by the consulate. We were supposed to be met at the airport by the consul. Here's what happened:
I happen to be sitting in the second row at the front.
So I get off the plane pretty quickly.
There are 6 uniformed men right at the gate.
Four men from the National Guard and two from the immigration authorities.
They let me pass almost unnoticed.
I have the crazy hope that it can't be us. Maybe someone with drugs or something similar.
I stand a little to one side and wait. My heart in my throat.
My husband was sitting at the back. Nothing can happen, I think.
We are safe here.
We have an appointment with the consul directly at the airport. Everything has been officially reported and planned.
As soon as he steps out of the gate, the uniformed men start moving, seem to have a photo of him.
They walk towards him and I know,
Nothing is the same now.
Now it's happened.
There's nothing I can do.
They all come to me together and we are led wordlessly into the immigration office. We wait.
I just manage to make one more phone call before a man says: "There's something wrong with your visa, we're taking you to the main office now.
Our explanations that we should get new passports here and that everything is in order are not of interest.
With blue lights and a second escort vehicle, we are taken through the traffic jam to the other end of the city, where they are already waiting for us.
All personal belongings are taken from us without explanation. As well as fingerprints and signatures on several papers in Spanish. No interpreter.
We ask to call the embassy, a last attempt to clarify the situation.
The call confirms that nothing is happening here by chance.
A interpreter arrives and explains that there is a problem in Germany. They would take my husband to Mexico City immediately and he would fly from there to Germany.
There is no more talk of passports or visas.
We are allowed to say goodbye briefly and then all of a sudden he is gone.
What's happening here?
And there's nothing I can do.
A large room. A man in handcuffs and lots of tattoos is being led away.
I'm wearing a light dress and flip-flops.
The interpreter tells me that I'm going to stay there for now.
A woman takes me into the cell and I walk in circles on cold gray tiles.
Camera on the ceiling, 1 water bottle with paper cup,
1 rubber mattress on the dirty floor.
Heat protection foil for the night.
A set of toothpaste, but no washbasin.
Metal toilet, clogged and overflowing.
After a few hours, a guard comes and tells me I'll be released the next day and leaves a tray of food.
I think: better than in a German hospital and am a little relieved.
Just hang in there, everything will clear up and then everything will be fine again!
It gets calmer during the night. Breathing exercises.
A television is on.
It's cold. New arrivals come in from time to time, picked up at the border.
Fewer and fewer people are fleeing México for the USA. On the walls are the names of people from Georgia, Brazil and Venezuela.
When the doors slam, I startle, afraid that my door will be opened.
The next morning I await my release. After 2 hours I ask and someone says: In the afternoon.
Then it's afternoon. The food for the evening is brought. The guard says: Hey German, you have to eat. For us Mexicans, a good full belly is very important.
Then I cry - suddenly I lose hope.
But after a while, voices at the main entrance. The boss is back from work that evening. Very polite, personal, almost apologetic.
I'm taken from the cell to the front.
'You can go now'
I sign papers again. They show me a photo of my husband at the airport in México City. In handcuffs between 2 men.
He looks so tired.
Then I can leave
and until now I wasn’t able to write about it.
These things are happening now to many
It is our present
Betrayal? Slander? Aiding and abetting?
Love, hope and blessing for all people who are and remain strong.
Who are there for others and support them.
I would like to thank all the people who have accompanied us for over 3 years, who have written to us and shared their worries and fears, as I am doing now. Who stood up and simply do not stop.
Thank you very much.
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