The Line Becomes a River 	

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BBC Radio 4 FM

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Joseph Balderrama

Francisco Cantu

Richard Hamilton

The Line Becomes a River by Francisco Cantú: 2. Creation

The Line Becomes a River

2. Creation

The Line Becomes a River by Francisco Cantú

BBC Radio 4 - The Line Becomes a River by Francisco Cantú, 2. Creation

Francsico Cantú recounts how the US-Mexican border was created.

Francisco Cantú, a former border patrol agent, recounts how the US-Mexican border was created. Read by Joseph Balderrama.

Francisco Cantú, a former Border Patrol Agent recounts how the US/Mexican border was created.

He finds beauty in the landscape as well as despair. 

Francisco Cantú's memoir about working for the US Border Patrol also tells the personal stories of those who risk all for a better life in the US. 

Born to the daughter of a Mexican immigrant, the border is in his blood. His decision to become a law enforcer came after four years of learning about it through policy and history while studying international relations, and the realisation that theory isn't enough. He needs to be on the ground to understand the border in all its beauty, ugliness and danger. 

After four years the personal toll leads him to leave the Patrol but when an immigrant friend does not return from a trip to Mexico, Cantú is returned to a world which he discovers is impossible to leave behind.

His evocative account is interwoven with reflections on the history, culture, nature and psychology of the border, and is more broadly about life on either side of a boundary, wherever it is.

Abridged by Richard Hamilton

Read by Joseph Balderrama.

Producer: Elizabeth Allard

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 2018.

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

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Francisco Cantú recounts his experiences of policing the US-Mexican border.

Francisco Cantú recounts his experiences of policing the US-Mexican border. Read by Joseph Balderrama. Abridged by Richard Hamilton.

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