Francisco Miraval
Some numbers sometimes reveal amazing and complex realities. For example, each month, 50,000 Latinos turn 18 in the United States and the trend will continue for the next 20 years. IN addition, most of those Latinos (at least 90 percent of them) were born in America.
In other words, two decades from now there will be more than 10 million new Latino voters in the country. For that reason, some experts are predicting Latinos will not only elect the American president in 2028, but they will also set the political agenda of the country at that time and for years to come after that.
Let me put it this way: each year for the next 20 years, the number of new Latinos entering the work force and registering to vote will be the equivalent of the total number of people now living in cities such as Denver, Colorado, or Louisville, Kentucky.
Just as an exercise (because it will never happen in real life), try to visualize the creation of a new city each year where more than half a million young Latinos are the only residents.
Of course, there are other numbers telling other stories. For example, during a recent conference, one of the speakers mentioned that since 1993 to 2012, more than 6.000 people died trying to cross the border from Mexico to the United States. We should remember that behind these statistics there are real person who lost their lives.
We can also say it in this way: each year, an average of 300 people die attempting to cross the Mexican-American border. That number caught my attention because, according to some reports, 239 people died from 1961 to 1989 trying to cross the Berlin Wall. Other reports say that number is too low and that the real number of death in that border is closer to 1,000.
Is it fair or possible to compare the Berlin Wall with the Mexican-American border? Of course not. However, I am not an expert in geopolitics. So, my sincere apologies. But there are more comparisons to share.
As I mentioned before, each year 300 people die attempting to cross the Mexican-American border. Each of those deaths is, without any doubts, tragedy. For that reason, it is proper for this issue to receive the national and international attention it receives. But that border region is not the only area where more than 300 people die violently each year.
In 2012, for example, more than 450 people were killed in Chicago, more than the number of American soldiers killed in Afghanistan during the past 10 months (277), and very close to the maximum number of American soldiers killed during one year in that conflict (499 in 2010).
Another number: 320 passengers die annually in Buenos Aires, Argentina due to railroad crashes.
Finally, how many kids (yes, kids) travel alone by train each year from Central America to the United States? More than 100,000. And more than 22,000 are kidnapped or killed during the trip.