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 News from Around the Americas | October 2006 
Border Wall Protester Finishes 200-Mile Walk in Brownsville
 James Pinkerton - Houston Chronicle
| | With support from people along the way, he says he has accomplished his 15-day mission. |
Brownsville - It wasn't exactly a hero's welcome, but the mayor joined him in walking the final mile.
Jay J. Johnson-Castro, 59, paced into this southernmost border town late Wednesday and finished his nearly 200-mile walk to protest Washington's controversial plan to add 700 miles of new fence to the most vulnerable spots along the U.S.-Mexico border.
"I feel like the mission is accomplished," he said. "We didn't have masses of crowds, but we did have people honking and waving all the way along."
Johnson-Castro, the owner of a bed-and-breakfast in Del Rio, set out on his walk Oct. 10 from the main square in Laredo. He ended it in Brownsville with Mayor Eddie Treviño escorting him into the palm-shaded Dean Porter Park shortly before 5 p.m. They were accompanied by Brownsville police and met by 30 enthusiastic supporters.
"He's become a symbol of the voices who are opposing this whole idea of a fence," Treviño said. "His walk has worked to garner attention that this isn't wanted by the people of South Texas."
Johnson-Castro, tanned and visibly leaner, said the mostly Hispanic border residents were both insulted and offended by the proposed fence.
"Most people relate to it as a Berlin Wall," he said.
President Bush today is expected to sign a bill authorizing the fence, which could cost more than $6 billion.
Johnson-Castro called the fence a foolhardy measure and an "act of aggression" against neighboring Mexico.
Mexican officials plan to send a resolution to the United Nations Human Rights Council, claiming that the planned fence will drive migrants into remote, dangerous areas where they are more likely to die crossing the border.
Johnson-Castro and his small entourage had originally planned to spend their nights camping along the road. However, their cause drew the support of immigration activists, Catholic Church members, business people and others who put them up in hotels.
As he approached Brownsville along U.S. Highway 281, Johnson-Castro waved to supporters who honked or stepped out from their homes along the Rio Grande.
"He has a good cause, we're just going to throw money away on a fence," said Dione Harris, 18, who stood at her mailbox after Johnson-Castro walked by.
"It's money we could use on other things — like helping the elderly."
james.pinkerton@chron.com |
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