"Like so many brown-skinned inhabitants of the Americas, the Río Grande may not be beautiful through European eyes. In the desert reaches of the Americas though, the brown waters of the lower Río Grande are a beautiful, living-giving force. She is but another form of Chalchiuhtlicue, the Aztec goddess of water. She is the protector of mothers in childbirth, babies, fishermen, and navigators. The Aztec view of water as a goddess bestows an attribute of vitality to the environment that the Anglo-centric ideas of the American Dream, Manifest Destiny, and capitalism violate when people pollute and misuse the river."
"When Texas Governor Greg Abbott put buoys and concertina wire in the Río Grande to "deter immigrants," a euphemism for killing refugees traveling across the border, he made Chalchiuhtlicue an unwilling accomplice to the murder of her children. But Mexicans showed up in a different context during the July 4 floods of the Guadalupe River, a parallel river that like the Río Grande flows into the Gulf of Mexico. Rescue teams from Mexican organization Fundación 911 in Acuña, Coahuila, didn't just answer a call for help, they called officials in Kerr County, TX, to collaborate."
"Fundación 911 trains for rescuing people from disasters like these. But beyond natural disasters, US federal policy and political performance of violence against refugees and asylum seekers compels the organization to do river rescues to prevent the targeted deaths of Latin American migrants crossing into the United States. That training served Texans well as the Mexicans helped search for lost girls from Camp Mystic and residents of Kerr County."
The Río Grande is personified as Chalchiuhtlicue, an Aztec water goddess who sustains life and protects mothers, infants, fishermen, and navigators. Anglo-centric ideologies such as the American Dream, Manifest Destiny, and capitalism undermine the river's vitality through pollution and misuse. Texas Governor Greg Abbott's placement of buoys and concertina wire in the Río Grande to "deter immigrants" made Chalchiuhtlicue an unwilling accomplice to the murder of her children. Mexican organization Fundación 911 collaborated with Texas officials during Guadalupe River floods and uses disaster training to perform river rescues for migrants endangered by U.S. border policies. A large proportion of Río Grande water is withdrawn for human use.
Read at Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
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