The U.S. government has created a widely popular song about the “death train” to discourage Central Americans from risking their lives in pursuit of the amnesty that they believe awaits them across the U.S.-Mexico border.
The Daily Beast reported that “La Bestia” is a hit song in Central America that is a part of America’s propaganda campaign to let Central Americans know about the dangers of the “death train,” which is also called “the beast.”
“Migrants from everywhere, entrenched along the rail ties. Far away from where they come, further away from where they go,” the song informs Central American listeners. “They call her the Beast from the South, this wretched train of death. With the devil in the boiler, whistles, roars, twists and turns.” The “La Bestia” song also “references Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, one of the violent gangs involved in human smuggling and whose members stalk the infamous train, preying on any migrants who dare ride it.”
According to the Daily Beast, “people throughout Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador call their local radio stations to request this song, a harrowing tale of violence and death set against the backdrop of Central America’s traditionally upbeat cumbia music.” However, they do not know that the song, “and others like it, are part of a U.S. Customs and Border Protection campaign to deterring illegal immigration to the United States.”
Last week, a cargo train nicknamed “the Beast” derailed, stranding about 1,300 migrants on their way to America. As Breitbart Texas has reported, “children who travel via Death Train must jump onto a moving freight car,” and “minors who cannot successfully pull themselves onto the traveling cars fall onto the tracks… many are left with extreme injuries,” like losing arms and legs.
The song, which “is currently played by 21 radio stations throughout Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras,” is reportedly the only song “written specifically for a Central American audience.”
The U.S. Customs and Border Patrol had written a song for Mexican audiences in 2004 to discourage border crossings that saw a decrease in the number of crossings in the years after. The Customs and Border Patrol reportedly sends radio stations across South America two versions of the propaganda song without disclaimers because the CBP “knows that attaching its name to the campaign would immediately decrease its effectiveness.”
As Breitbart News has reported, at least 57,000 illegal immigrant children have crossed the border since October of last year, and federal officials expect at least 150,000 more to do so next year. The number of illegal immigrant children unlawfully entering the country has spiked since Obama unilaterally enacted his temporary amnesty program for certain DREAMers in 2012.