Solidary Cuisine: Las Patronas Facing the Central American Migratory Flow

Central American migration has become a perennial issue in public debates in Mexico. Local, regional, and national media regularly transmit reports about the risks faced by migrants, the precarious conditions in which they live, the lack of safe havens to provide them shelter, and the different dangers along their way. Across the country, religious and civil organizations have opened up shelters to receive migrants. Solidary actors often end up paying high personal and family costs for their service. Las Patronas are an example of this type of support group in Mexico. The objective of this chapter is to examine how Las Patronas have broadened the horizon of solidarity with migrants by appealing, first and foremost, to the principles of care, protection, unconditional love, and solidarity within the noncivil codes of religion and family and, only later, and in a subordinate way, to the civil defense of human rights.