Mexico Trucker Online

Dressed casually in a pair of jogging pants and T-shirt, Alfonso Marcial’s appearance belies the extraordinary experiences of his life

By the age of 16, he was already on his own. Fleeing the poverty of his native Jalisco state on Mexico’s Pacific Coast, he arrived in Tijuana alone and with no money. He was forced to spend his nights sleeping in abandoned cars and wander the streets in search of handouts during the day.

It was the early 1970s, and the bustling border town’s reputation as a staging ground for smugglers and illegal migrants hoping to negotiate a trip across la linea was already well established. Smugglers, known as coyotes due to their skill and daring at outsmarting the Border Patrol, were always looking for new clients. They often planted recruiters in the bus depots and telephone offices, searching out those looking to cross over. Through an acquaintance, Alfonso found work as a recruiter for a local coyote.

Alfonso cruised the downtown telephone office listening in on the telephone conversations of newly arrived migrants, waiting for the magic words that would signal his opportunity.

“We’d approach those we heard talking about crossing, and tell them we knew someone who could help them for the right price,” he said.

Alfono’s first taste of how quickly things change in the volatile world of human trafficking came on one of his first trips across the border.

The I-5 corridor from Tijuana to Los Angeles was a regular route used by the coyotes. As they approached the San Clemente checkpoint, the coyote prepared the group of illegal migrants.

Flashing green lights signaled they could pass through without question, the coyote explained to them. Red, and the migrants were told to bail out of the car, taking their chances among the heavy freeway traffic. As they approached the checkpoint, Alfonso and the migrants awaited the coyote’s signal.

“Suddenly, the coyote yelled out “bajense,” and we all jumped out of the van and began running in all direction,” Alfonso recalls, his arms flailing about as he describes the chaos as migrants and coyotes rushed to flee the pursuing agents.

In the commotion, Alfonso and one of the men were separated from the group. The two hid out until morning, when Alfonso was able to arrange a ride to Los Angeles with a group of construction workers.

Fulfilling his promise, Alfonso delivered the man to Los Angeles and received $250 for his work.

“I never had that much money before,” he laughed. “I felt like I was rich.”

He learned quickly and before long was leading groups of illegal migrants, sometimes as many as 30 at a time, across the mountainous terrain dividing San Diego and Tijuana. With his earnings, he purchased a small fleet of used older cars to smuggle more human cargo across the San Ysidro Border crossing.

He spent approximately five years in the smuggling business and invested much of the money he made in real estate. Today, Alfonso spends his time working on some of the more than 800 songs he wrote while in prison. He has had several meetings with well-known Mexican recording artist Juan Gabriel, and recorded a CD of songs dedicated to the singer. He is also working on a book about his life, which he hopes to complete this year.

His recent business success, however, came with a heavy price. He spent a total of eight years in prison. He was nearly fatally shot once, and one of his five children died while he was behind bars. His wife, tired of sharing the life of a coyote, left him.

Yet when asked about the toll of his choices, he simply shakes his head saying he has never regretted the things he has done.

“I’m not rich,” he laughed. “For us (the coyotes), it’s about taking care of our families. This is what we do to kind of erase the things we’ve done in the past.”