Mauricio Angel/ Reform Agency
Friday, January 13, 2023 | 07:18
CDMX.- From his trip last year to Tapachula, Chiapas, to learn the stories of refugees, Luis Gerardo Méndez remembers the stories above all.
He also met a family that could only carry two suitcases when fleeing from a gang that threatened them with death, and a Venezuelan woman who had already tried to take refuge in Colombia, where her attackers found her.
Knowing about these cases shook the protagonist of Club de Cuervos, who is so committed to helping that he was officially named as a Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR, the United Nations Agency for Refugees.
“I became a public figure or a speaker after We the Nobles, but I was very young, I was 30 years old. At that moment I remember that I wanted to grab the flag of whatever cause they wanted me for or that I read about and say that I represented it. “, highlighted the actor in an interview.
“Over time, I realized that to be an ambassador for something you have to know it in depth. If not, you become someone else who gives an opinion on Twitter and that doesn’t change anything. It’s very easy to give your opinion on things when you only read the headline of the news. You have to go do field work, you have to go into Tapachula, talk to people, listen to those stories.”
The Ariel nominee began to raise awareness about the issue of refugees through the Habesha Project, which in 2016 brought Syrian university students to Mexico to finish their studies.
“I was an idiot. My friend would tell me and I would say to him myself: ‘Why don’t we help Mexicans better?’, which is the ‘backlash’ I hear all the time now that I talk about UNHCR. He was the first person who made me aware of the issue of humanitarian aid.
“Solidarity has nothing to do with the color of a passport, it has to be for everyone. When you go to Tapachula and see the people, it is very hard for me to think that someone would act otherwise, that they would deny them food or shelter. Nobody choose to be a refugee,” he reflected.
His mission, he said, will be to demolish myths about migrants and spread the word that they are not threats, but rather people fleeing vulnerable situations that endanger their lives.
During the year, Méndez will visit Monterrey, Guadalajara, Saltillo and Aguascalientes to learn “success” stories of refugees who managed to integrate and rebuild their lives. He will also go to northern border states to hear from migrants who, after crossing Mexico, find it impossible to reach the United States.
Connect to Stanley’s story
When he thinks of Paco Stanley, Luis Gerardo Méndez remembers himself at the table in his house and accompanied by his family, since the presenter is part of the television with which he grew up.
This element connects him so much with the driver that the Time Share protagonist feels a greater interest in participating in the series that focuses on the last day of Stanley’s life, murdered in 1999.
“What really caught my attention is that we are going to tell what was behind that. I would understand if an American or French actor wonders why he is going to tell the story of that murdered comedian. For him it is not significant, and for me It is very significant because I lived that moment.
“This is what happened to me with Narcos: Mexico. The things that happened in that season that I had to do are the news that my dad read in the newspapers when we were having breakfast. Having the opportunity to tell it from another side is interesting,” he shared.
Diego Boneta and Belinda will also perform in the Prime Video production, where each actor will interpret a different perspective of people close to the presenter.
