MEXICO- As the days pass in the tranquility of your home in Monterey, Cristina Rojas feels more emotional. At times her voice breaks and she wants to cry when recapitulating how a trip for the 20th anniversary of her marriage left her stranded in the most dangerous conflict zone of the moment: Israel.
Look at the news, the increasingly radical Israeli counteroffensive; the attack on a hospital, the liberation of hostages by Hamas in dribs and drabs, a role that she and her husband could have had, if they were in the wrong time and place, like the two Mexicans that the radical Palestinian organization still has.
I had never been to the Middle East. Like most Mexicans, he has no particular interest in the area, except to know the region where Jesus Christ was born and the biblical history, in addition to the fact that Mexico has managed to remain neutral despite the fact that the Jews are its main trading partners. .
That’s why when Cristina Rojas and her husband learned that the Archdiocese of Mexico was organizing a religious trip to the Holy Land, they did not hesitate. “It was a celebration, a gift that we wanted to give each other,” he says in an interview with this newspaper.
They signed up, prepared documents and suitcases, and flew from the capital of Nuevo León to Mexico City, where they met 26 other pilgrims from Tabasco, Puebla, Baja California, and the capital itself, among other states, and set out for the Middle East. with the hope of his life, of years of savings, of work.
TRIP
They landed in Tel Aviv on October 6 at 4:00 in the afternoon. An Israeli guide fluent in Spanish met them, welcomed them, gave them minimal instructions about the Sabbath, the Jewish day of rest when activities slow down in Israel, and took them to the hotel that was near the beach.
The Rojas crossed the street and walked along the boardwalk, where cyclists and families strolled, they saw some kiosks selling light clothing and life jackets closed because it was already night and the golden sand dotted with tranquility intermittently interrupted by the crossing of planes.
“They look like military ships,” her husband said without giving it much importance and they started back to the hotel with the purpose of getting up early to see the sunrise facing the Mediterranean. They got up early and settled at the window. They saw many lights in the sea, “they must be coast guard boats,” the man assumed again. They were there when they heard an alarm that Cristina Rojas believed was part of a call to prayer for Jewish rest.
Blessed ignorance!, think now.
The sirens were, in reality, a warning for the attack by the Palestinians who have been fighting for a State on equal terms with the Israelis since the last century.
The Hamas fighters left Gaza (their territory) in all directions and raided 27 different locations, apparently with orders to kill on sight.
The furthest it went was the Ofakim citylocated 22.5 kilometers to the eastern Gaza and, in its wake, it attacked two military bases and took more than a hundred hostages.
Cristina Rojas and her husband went down at 7:00 in the morning to have breakfast. Tel Aviv It is 71.3 kilometers away and was not the target at that time, but they heard another alarm again. Nobody in the group of Mexicans had any idea what was happening because, on vacation, they were not paying attention to the news.
An hour later the bus arrived for them and took them to Nazareth. The guides didn’t comment anything but explosions and violent sounds could be heard getting louder and louder.
They visited Maritime Caesarean Section the city that in the 2nd and 3rd centuries became one of the most important in the Roman Empire. Then, in the Church of the Annunciationthe roar of the planes screamed that it was not the time to go sightseeing, but they continued.
From Mexico, his relatives also knew it. Are they okay? wrote an aunt, a cousin and the son of Cristina Rojas. Why do you ask me if I’m okay? She commented to her husband.
Then the leagues began to arrive with information to all the members of the group of Mexican pilgrims, that if more than one hundred hostages were in the hands of Hamas, What if the commander, Muhammad Deif, became angry at Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians and told his forces that this was a first step toward destruction and that Israel was going to counterattack.
“The guide said that Nazareth was a sacred site, that they were not going to attack it and that they should be calm, that we would remain there until further notice,” Cristina recalls.
On Sunday they followed the Jordan River and the Sea of Galilee, one of the main Christian destinations because that was where according to Saint Matthew, Jesus walked on water and where Saint Luke claims that the shepherd multiplied the fish. Two millennia later, the Israelis turned on the boat’s horns and played the Mexican national anthem so that the tourists “felt at home” and thus felt like they were listening to the “cry of a war,” but of the local battle.
Back to Nazareth They saw tanks on the road and a camp of soldiers and volunteers who were joining the Israeli cause, as explained by the guide who seemed increasingly concerned about the drama of crying mothers saying goodbye to their children. At the same time, the group of Mexicans received an email from the airline about the suspension of the return flight scheduled for Friday the 14th.
“That’s when we said ‘this is not going well at all,’” Cristina recalls.
Most of the Mexican walkers did not know what to say to their relatives who called them insistently, they did not know what was going to happen, whether to stay, return, seek help, calm down. There were two women who panicked and had to be given anxiolytics and antidepressants.
Luckily for the group, there were a couple of doctors and a priest who calmed them down in the midst of uncertainty. “Everything is going to be fine,” they said.
On Monday they changed plans and instead of advancing to Jerusalem, they visited Magdala waiting for better news. But they didn’t arrive.
THE RESCUE
again in Nazareththe group organizer told them that he had sent the list of all of them to the embassy of Mexico in Israel and that it had asked that each person express in online format their intention to return to the country on Mexican government flights.
They all did and the Mexican diplomats began to call them; to some yes, to others no, until one of the travelers informed them that they would all arrive together at Tel Aviv to flee in the second of three aircraft piloted by the Mexican Air Force for repatriation.
According to data from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Israel There are around 5,000 Mexicans, but only a little more than 700 requested their official return.
The group of pilgrims where Cristina Rojas was traveling left the Middle East and its millennia-old conflict on Wednesday, October 11 at 6:00 in the morning and arrived on Wednesday at 10:00 at night time of the Mexico City.
It stopped in Ireland, where the travelers felt for the first time away from the conflict, safe and sound. Zidane Zeraoui, Political Science analyst for the National Autonomous University of Mexico, declared that the relationship between Mexico and both countries in the conflict is “a little ambiguous due to its policy of respect for the self-determination of peoples.”
“Better far away,” Cristina sighed in Canada, where she was the next stopover to North Carolina; Two hours later, when the pilot announced that he was already flying over Mexican territory, the relief, euphoria and excitement were no longer his alone.
On the loudspeaker they played the song: “This is how Mexico feels” and everyone applauded, cried, and prayed. “Great Mexico,” she thought. First by the country’s military who entered Israel under the risk of being hit by a bullet. Afterwards, for her family and the party organized in honor of life, what do you want to eat when you arrive? They had asked Cristina.
“Beans, please.”
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