'Ana', the comic by Guillermo Arriaga and Humberto Ramos to raise awareness about migration

Guillermo Arriaga and Humberto Ramos during the presentation of the comic “Ana”. COURTESY

Screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga has launched himself into the world of comics alongside Marvel illustrator Humberto Ramos.

The project, released this Tuesday, melds the heartbreaking stories of the thousands of migrant children who have crossed the borders of Mexico in the hope of reaching the US The comic

Ana

narrates in its 24 pages the violence of origin, the compelling reasons behind such a dangerous journey and the social context that pushes Central American migrants to leave their country.

However, it leaves a place for the hope of readers and children who, like its protagonist, seek a better future on the other side of the border.

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Ana

is a comic by the NGO Save the Children, funded by the European Union, to sensitize the international public about the migration crisis.

Its protagonist is a Salvadoran girl, one of the more than 11,500 children who have arrived in Mexico in the last year.

The narrative line is common in many of them: from an impoverished social context, they live in neighborhoods administered by the maras, the gangs that dispute the control of the territory in the country and have been threatened with death to leave their houses behind and renounce them to the organized crime.

Fragment of the comic "Ana" by Guillermo Arriaga and Humberto Ramos. COURTESY

This is the first project in the world of comics for Arriaga, the scriptwriter of

Amores perros, 21 grams

or

Babel.

He assures that for him it is a personal matter. "I have friends who are illiterate farmers from Tamaulipas and I have seen how their family has been forced to migrate for economic and security reasons," he describes. “I have seen the suffering, the pain, and how complicated it is for a migrant to go to another country. Children who migrate without knowing why they are migrating ”, he adds.

Arriaga read several real testimonies of migrant children in order to write

Ana's

script

.

“There is a story that resembles that of the protagonist that was the one that impacted me the most.

She, like Ana, had a murdered father who was a member of a gang, they raped her mother and took over her house, threatening them with death, ”she recalls.

In addition, during his trips to the northern border through his work, he got to know migrant families who told them about their experiences.

"We as a society do not stop to listen to others", sentence.

Fragment of the comic "Ana" by Guillermo Arriaga and Humberto Ramos. COURTESY

To bring Arriaga's words to the drawing, the Mexican illustrator for Marvel and the cartoonist of the

Spiderman

comic

, Humberto Ramos, made an effort to illustrate a “crude, but hopeful” story. "I do believe that I can contribute something positive, and that people do the same to generate virtuous circles," he says. The lines that make up

Ana's

story

combine the pain of a family in a format without borders, capable of reaching various countries and all ages. The final message is that despite the gloom of the trip - rapes, robberies, assaults and violence - there are people who want to help the migrant. “It is not easy for us to realize that a little help from us makes a huge difference with someone else,” adds Ramos.

Migrant income from the border with Mexico has increased 70% since January, the month in which Biden came to power.

The director of Save the Children in Mexico, Andrés Conde, explains that migrant children are in the highest level of vulnerability.

“Migration has been humanity's survival strategy since the beginning of history.

All children have the right to survive, learn and live protected from violence and exploitation ”, he underlines in the presentation of the comic.

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