Rafael Larraenza’s cellphone rings 60 to 80 times a day. The calls come from desperate relatives of migrants who’ve gotten lost in the desert.
They give him whatever vague information they have about their family member’s last known whereabouts, and ask if there’s anything he can do.
Larraenza takes down the information, packs a bag and heads into the desert. He spends days wandering around on foot, looking for clues, calling out people’s names. Sometimes, he finds them. Sometimes they’re dead by the time he arrives. More often, he doesn’t find anything. But he always answers the phone.
Larraenza runs an organization called Desert Angel — though the organization is primarily him. He’s been doing this work for decades, in spite of the long odds and the punishing toll it’s taken on his body.
Larraenza was recently the subject of a documentary — also called “Desert Angel” — by filmmaker Vincent DeLuca. The Show spoke with DeLuca and Larraenza, who was assisted by an interpreter for the conversation.
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Sonora Gov. Alfonso Durazo hopes connecting the small port of entry at Sásabe with the rest of the state’s highway system would spur tourism to beach towns. -
By day, Russ McSpadden works as a Southwest conservation advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity. But McSpadden is also a poet, and he’s recently published a collection called “Borderlings.” -
There is a lot of technology around the U.S.–Mexico border. But it turns out there’s even more tech in that area than many people know about — because it’s out of sight. -
Keith Allen with Encántame Resorts says they’ve had around 80 cancellations after the capture of a cartel leader 1,000 miles away Sunday. -
Federal officials blamed the abrupt order to close airspace around El Paso, Texas for 10 days on an incursion by Mexican cartel drones, though it quickly became clear that civil aviation authorities were more worried about a new laser being tested to shoot down such threats.
