Editor’s Note: This story—produced in collaboration between palabra, a multimedia initiative of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, and the Texas Observer—was edited in Spanish and translated to English by Lygia Navarro.
I met Coyote 1 outside the airport in Managua, Nicaragua. Even though coyotes already use one- or two-syllable aliases, I’m calling him that for my own safety. After weeks of talking on WhatsApp before I left Cuba, we’d already arranged everything. He knew I’d be wearing a white t-shirt and gray Nikes. And he’d seen my face. In the lucrative human smuggling trade, coyotes are the bosses. They control a web of guides and subcontractors who provide different services. Every country, a new coyote.
