What will Mexico say to its orphans?

Rosa Isela Escajeda Galindo, 24, and Rosalía Esther Vázquez Holguín, 28, were killed this Thursday after gunmen opened fire on two buses that were transporting maquiladora workers that had finished their shift. An unidentified man also was killed in the attack.

According to testimonies offered by their relatives to El Diario, Escajeda and Vazquez Holguin were mothers of three children each.

The weekend before, on Friday night, Martina Arteaga Acereres, 30, was killed during a birthday party that she had organized for one of her children. She left six motherless children. Another 13 people were killed at the same event that night, among them two women, who left three children each. These 18 children in less than a week are just a few of the dozens of motherless children that the drug war is leaving behind.

According to an extensive story written by Mexican journalist Marcela Turati, the drug war has left more than 10,000 orphans just in Ciudad Juárez in three years, but according to human rights activist Gustavo de la Rosa Hickerson, the number of orphans in the entire country could be more than 50,000.

Imagine any of these orphans in 10 years. Imagine how she/he will try to make sense of the brutal and unjustified death of her/his mother. Try to imagine his/her voice in the near future...

My mother was killed in a country in which there was no respect for human life… a country in which laws were made to be broken because there was no punishment for anybody… a country in which you were always afraid of the police, the military, the narcos, the gunmen, because sometimes they would seem to be the same… a country in which there was no justice for the poor… a country in which children were not allowed to go to parks because they could be shot or kidnapped or recruited by criminals… a country in which mothers had to work two shifts at the maquilas in order to make a decent salary, just enough to feed their children, no more… a country in which a police officer could be caught robbing a convenience store and yet keep his job … a country in which politicians–right-wing, center and leftist–were not public servants, but greedy people, sick for power… a country in which educational opportunities were scarce and expensive for young people… a country in which there were daily massacres, grenades explosions in public places, executions, beheadings, kidnappings, extortion, disappearances and many other crimes, but only once in a while a criminal was arrested...My mother was killed because nobody really cared about the lives of poor people in Ciudad Juarez, Monterrey, Tampico, Sinaloa, Durango, Acapulco, Michoacan, Laredo, Torreón, Cuernavaca, Veracruz and all around the country… My mother was killed because the country remained silent while we were all dying every time a person was killed on the streets, in the schools, in their businesses, on their way back home…

 

 

Comments

[Stan]

Al presidente de México y el líder decidido de México:

Su gente grita y usted no les ayuda.
¡Todos ustedes eres una vergüenza!

[alice from Ky]

Gracias, Lourdes, very eloquent treatment of the subject. For every positive morsel of optimism, there exists at least one negative. Such is life. What you write about is a reality that is not seen by those in power. Calderon believes that new schools and universities, new futbal fields, will magically change the current culture of lawlessness, when any effects of that are generations away. In the meantime, those who really care are powerless to do anything.

[Anonymous]

I pray for everyones loss. I buried my sweet young daughter who was killed in a collision. Living with the death of a loved one has
Taught me great compassion. I want the survivors to know that I care and weep for them.
I know that there isn't anything that I can to change the situation. I do believe in
The power of prayer to one that does have power.
Lets not forget the journalist very courageous.
The survivors will tell their story and it will be of survival and courage and I hope eventually along this hard and difficult journey, they Will help others and that way their loved ones didn't die in vain.

I'm so sorry that this happening.

[annette perkins]

Our daughter and son-in-law would LOVE TO ADOPT a couple of the orphaned children! In this time of unrest, in Ciudad Juarez especially (we have made 29 trips there from Florida as missionaries, founders of a nonprofit organization to help the poor....and continue to go to Juarez)....please, DIF, MAKE IT EASY FOR AMERICANS TO NOW ADOPT THESE CHILDREN!!!!

Annette Perkins

[brian]

Stay alive, Lourdes. There's not too many good journos left in that area.

[Maria]

The day the Mexican government decides to truly promote justice, and develop opportunities for citizents to obtain an education and better paying jobs is that we will see a decline in criminal activity. The only ones gaining with this so called "war against the drug cartels" are the weapon manufacturers. Do we really believe that the Merida Iniciative is truly helping the country win this "war"? There should be someone checking were all that money goes?