Breaking the silence of violence: seeking help and recovery
By Tania Noriz, July 7, 2006

part II of a three-part series

“I grew up with the idea that women must work really hard at home, serve their husbands like a maid, and withstand abuse because men in Mexico are the kings of their homes.” This is part of the testimony of Alejandra, one of many San Miguel women who have survived abuse from their boyfriends, husbands, fathers or brothers. Alejandra, like the other women in this article, had the courage to tell her story to local authorities. 

According to a December 2005 survey of 800 women conducted by the Municipal Institute for Women (IMAM), 60 percent of the women surveyed admitted to not reporting the aggressive and abusive behavior of their partners due to fear of more violence or distrust of authorities.

Since September 2005, the Violence Prevention Program of the Centro para los Adolescentes de San Miguel (CASA) has recorded 80 reports of abuse. Only some of these were followed by formal reports to the district attorney’s office. According to program head Alejandra Saucillo, “Women are not obligated to report their situation to the authorities, so many prefer to receive only psychological therapy.”

Yet the barrier of silence caused by fear of retaliation and social conditioning that makes the women feel responsible for the humiliations they have suffered continues to perpetuate a vicious circle. “Women must have the right to live without violence, but they also have the obligation to report abuse and violence. It is important not to remain silent. Not saying anything is as dangerous as the abuse. These women could die,” said Araceli Martínez, head of IMAM. 

To protect the identity of these women, Atención has changed the names and facts that can be recognized by their abusers, families or friends.

Rosario, 17 

Three months after marrying her 24-year-old husband, César, Rosario found out that alcohol and machismo would be an element of her marriage. “He drank a lot and was very aggressive. He would shout at me when I asked him to stop drinking. He was always furious—pushing and slapping me.” 
Despite the bruises on her body, Rosario, terrified of her husband and afraid her family and authorities wouldn’t believe her, decided not to speak of her ordeal.

“I was really very scared and disappointed. The day I had the courage to report my experience to the district attorney’s office, they didn’t believe me because I didn’t have bruises they could see.” 

After two years of mistreatment, the blows César gave Rosario intensified. “One day, he beat me very hard in front of his mother. She did not do anything; I was powerless and cried all night.” César, who has a university degree, also started reacting differently after beating Rosario; sometimes he regretted his conduct, but on other occasions he reacted violently, and raped her as well. 

Finally, Rosario, more angry than afraid, sought out assistance at CASA to report the abuse to the authorities. “My husband always said everything was my fault and that I should change so he wouldn’t beat me anymore.” César now faces a lawsuit brought by the district attorney’s office. “I told him several times that I was going to report him to the authorities. He always said that I didn’t have the nerve to do it.” Now, Rosario lives with her family and her two-year-old son. “I feel anger, but still I feel that I love him. I never saw any kind of violence in my parents’ house. Now, I think about the past and bruises on my body and I regret I didn’t report this from the very beginning. There is no justification for such treatment, and reporting it is something that women must not let pass.”

Martha, 43 

Martha was married 15 years ago to a man with only one defect: he was very aggressive.

She is not with him anymore, but she says she will always feel the pain and fear. 

“I stood by him so many years. He beat me once when I was pregnant. I could have died by his hands, and I almost lost my son.” Marta made a courageous decision one night while her husband was working. She took her son, a few clothes and some money she had saved, and she ran to a friend’s house. “He was furious. Jealousy blinded him because he thought I was cheating on him and that I had run away with another man.” After a few days of hiding at her friend’s house, Martha looked for protection with Margarita, her sister. Margarita helped her and took her to DIF, where she received therapy and advice on how to report her case to the district attorney’s office. “At first, my husband was very angry and insisted that I return home. When he realized I wouldn’t, he changed and started acting like a new man, but I didn’t believe him.”

Martha’s case has been in the courts since the beginning of this year, and she is still waiting to be called to make a declaration before a judge. “Many women do not know that they can be helped. Many think they deserve to be mistreated. This is not true. Women deserve to live with peace and love. There are many reasons to live, and in my case, these reasons are my son, my work, my family and myself. Now I am working hard to forget and to move ahead.”
 
Beatriz, 35 

“I had always witnessed violence in my family,” recalls Beatriz. “My father used to beat my mother, and she would beat us. I left when I was very young. Who could tell me I would be with someone like my father?”

Beatriz, like her mother, took her anger and frustration out on her two children. “At first, I thought it was part of educating them. But one day, I realized with horror that I was giving them the same bruises that my husband gave me. It was then that I looked for help.”

Beatriz’s husband knew what he was doing. “He was not an idiot. He beat me in places where bruises would not be seen. He never touched my face or arms in order not leave marks. He did not give me money, leaving us without food for several days.” 

She was with her husband for nine years. Beatriz approached the district attorney’s office through DIF and IMAM. I filed charges against him; he got scared and ran away. He has not come back, and I believe he went to the United States. I don’t care. I got a divorce, I changed my address, and, if he returns, he is not going to find me. It is not easy to accept that you need help, but when you do it, you recover your freedom and then you are ready to see life with other eyes.”

Alejandra, 23

Alejandra decided to forgive and trust her husband, whom she married after a two-year engagement. “He would come to the store where I worked and play the guitar. That was what I liked about him. Everything was good in the beginning, but it changed for the worse.” 

Alejandra’s husband is an 18-year-old alcoholic in recovery. The abuse began during their courtship and continued when she was pregnant. Married for barely a month, with a month-old son, she accepts verbal, psychological and physical abuse because she says she still loves him.

“I feel that sometimes he acts as if he wanted to be free of me and our son.”

Alejandra considers herself a modern woman and believes her forthright points of view provoke her husband. “He says that I do not obey him as a woman should do; he says that I do not let him to do with me whatever he wants to do with me, because I fight too, I know how to fight.” 

After living a similar situation with her parents—her father beat and fought with her mother—she does not want her baby son to witness a similar situation at home. “I feel sad and I do not want to tell my family because of the shame. They know my husband beats me. But they blame me for not being a good wife and often do not believe me. His family knows about this, but they only tell him off.” Since I love him, I have decided to forgive and forget, but if he does it again, I am going to leave him. I believe that no woman deserves this kind of treatment, but what can I do?” At the time of this interview, Alejandra did not know about the existence of CASA, DIF and the Municipal Institute for Women. But even with this new information, she has chosen not to seek help.


San Miguel: the journey and dreams continue
By Jesús Ibarra
Part III

It is dusk, and several groups of Central American immigrants meet beside the railroad tracks between Comonfort and Escobedo. Mainly from Honduras, these men and women are aged between 18 and 30.

Their skin is burnt dark by the sun, and they wear tattered clothes and carry their worldly possessions in small bags. They have left their homes and families to pursue a future in the United States. Unlike those detained by the National Institute of Migration, they still have a look of hope and smiles on their faces. Atención met with some of these migrants waiting to catch the northbound train. This is their story.

Most of the Central American migrants who pass through Guanajuato on their way to the United States come from Honduras, one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere. The economy of the country faces serious problems—immoderate population growth, high inflation, and dependence on the exportation of unstably priced agricultural products such as banana and coffee. They come from towns such as Comayagua, Yoro and Choloma, where the majority of employment opportunities are still in agriculture and industry is limited. With an income barely large enough to provide sustenance, they prefer to risk the long and arduous journey to reach the American Dream, rather than struggle in poverty in their homes.

Francisco Mejía, 30, Honduras

Francisco lives in a small town outside the city of Comayagua, 104 kilometers northwest of Tegucigalpa, the country’s capital. He was a farmer, toiling long hours to raise his crops of corn and beans, always hoping for needed rains.

“What I earned was hardly enough to eat, and there were days when we didn’t even eat. So, I decided to try my luck in the United States,” said Francisco. From his last harvest he saved 3,000 lempira (equivalent to 260 dollars). He gave half to his wife and two daughters, and with 1,500 lempira in his pocket he left Comayagua. He traveled 400 kilometers through Guatemala up to the Mexican border. He walked for five days through the jungle. When he arrived to Tenosique, Tabasco, he found two other Hondurans, Elman Murillo and Olvin Eraso, both from the province of Choloma Cortés. “The Ulúa River inundated our lands,” said Elman. “That is why we decided to try our luck in the United States.” Elman, 25, left his mother and four younger siblings. Olvin, 27, left his wife and four children.

The three Hondurans caught a train and continued their journey together. “When we arrived at Orizaba we watched another Honduran trying to catch a moving train, but he could not get a grip and fell; the train ran over him. He died,” said Elman. “I felt afraid and wanted to go home, but I decided to continue—for my family.”

When they arrived at Lechería Station in Mexico City, police forced them off the train and stole the little money the men possessed. From Mexico City they traveled to Guanajuato, getting off in Comonfort. They hope to catch a train to San Luis Potosí for the last stage of their journey through Mexico. “I know no one in the United States. I don’t even know where to go—this is the first time,” said Francisco. 

Elman and Olvin do have contacts in the States. Elman hopes to reach Michigan, and Olvin says he is heading for Kansas. Their desire to make their dreams come true shines in their eyes. Despite their misfortune, they are confident that they will reach their destiny. “I will stay no more than three years in the States, save some money and then return to Honduras,” said Olvin. The three of them agree that if they are detained and deported they will try again. 

Rosario Masariego, 25, Honduras

Rosario is the single mother of three daughters, nine, four and two years old. She lived in Yoro, a province in Honduras. “I worked in a clothing factory, but life is so hard there and I want to give my little girls a better life.”

Rosario saved 3,000 lempira (US $260) and she left her daughters and some money with her mother. Her long journey took her through Guatemala by bus. “I had to pay 1,500 lempira to the police in Guatemala to continue,” said Rosario. At the Mexican border town of El Naranjo, she met others heading north. “When we left, a gang attacked us; probably ‘mara’ [Marasalvatrucha], because they were tattooed. I ran away and escaped, but they caught some of the others. I was so afraid, but thank God, nothing happened to me.”

Rosario has been traveling for 13 days. “There are days when we do not eat,” says Rosario. We eat thanks to the good people who give us food.” She traveled by train from Tenosique to Veracruz and then to Mexico City, where she narrowly escaped detention. 

New York is Rosario’s destination. She has some friends who will help her find a job. “I plan to only stay for three years and then return to Yoro with my daughters.” As she waits for the San Luis Potosí train, the smile of hope cannot hide her sadness at being so far from her daughters. 

Carlos Castro, 30, Honduras

Carlos Castro, also from the province of Yoro, in Honduras, travels with Rosario and others from the same region. Carlos worked as a farmer, growing beans, corn and coffee.

“I left my wife and three little children; it was very hard for me but what I earned was not enough, even to eat,” said Carlos, who began his trip only with 3,000 lempira in his pocket. He crossed the Mexican border at Agua Prieta, Chiapas. “There was a river—the Suchiate—so I crossed by boat, and that took half my money,” he said. “I tried to change the Honduran currency for Mexican pesos, but when I gave the man my money he ran away with it.” Begging for money and food, Carlos succeeded in reaching Tenosique, where he caught a train through Veracruz to Mexico City. “There I met others from Yoro. We continued our journey together until we arrived here. The train is leaving in a few minutes, we will find a place on it and go to San Luis Potosí,” said Carlos, who hopes to arrive at his destination of Houston, Texas, in about 10 days.


The Honduran Economy

Employment

Agriculture 62% 
Services 20% 
Manufacturing 9% 
Construction 3%
Other 6%

Unemployment 30% Illiteracy rate 30%

Main agricultural exports: Bananas and coffee