Mexican town's economy hinges on serving northbound border traffic

Published: 2006-03-03

ALTAR, Mexico (CNS) -- An odd thing that stands out about Altar in the Mexican state of Sonora, 60 miles south of the Arizona border, is the merchandise sold by strolling vendors and the shops ringing the plaza. Unlike the typical Mexican town square's colorful assortment of household items, snack foods and local crafts, Altar's offers little more than dark-colored backpacks; hats, jackets, shirts and socks in black or camouflage; sturdy shoes and warm gloves -- all in men's sizes -- and gallon jugs of water. They're the tools needed to cross the Sonoran Desert in winter, theoretically without attracting the attention of U.S. Border Patrol agents. On a Wednesday afternoon in February, the plaza was populated almost entirely by small clusters of working-age men, each with a stuffed backpack close at hand. The arrival of two dozen visitors from the Diocese of Tucson, Ariz., prompted the men to huddle closer together, watching cautiously as the Americans were briefed by Altar's parish priest, Father Prisciliano Peraza, and the town's former mayor, Francisco Garcia Aten.

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