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CASA Founded in 1981 on the initiative of Nadine Goodman, CASA (Center for the Adolescents of San Miguel de Allende A.C.) gives aid to young people, especially young, single mothers.

According to Alejandra Saucillo, CASA’s program coordinator, the institution provides several services for these women. “We support mothers who are single or who do not have a source of income, or who have been abandoned by their partners. They are generally young girls finishing junior high or in high school, between 16 and 23 years old,” said Saucillo. Daycare services and kindergartens with very low fees are among these services.

Saucillo said that one of CASA’s main programs is sex education, which affords single, young mothers the opportunity to work and earn a salary. “These young women are trained in sex education and they go to rural communities to talk on this topic and give out free condoms,” said Saucillo. She added that young fathers who did not finish school also take part in the program. Between 30 and 50 young mothers and fathers are hired each year.

CASA also offers domestic violence advocacy to women regardless of their marital status. “We offer legal assistance and psychological and medical services. We also accompany those women who request it when they file reports of abuse. We listen to them when they need to talk about their emotional troubles, the dissolution of their families, or any other issues.” CASA currently assists between 800 and 1,000 young mothers each year through its different programs.

CASA also trains young mothers to earn their own incomes, organizing workshops to teach jewelry making, clothing manufacture, computer skills, or hair cutting. “We also have an instructor who teaches illiterate elderly mothers to read,” said Saucillo. 

CASA has a medical clinic that specializes in gynecology and obstetrics and a school for midwives. “Women from other states, and even other countries, attend this school. When they graduate, they return home and set up childbirth centers. Although there are already midwives working in clinics and hospitals, we are fighting to find more jobs for them in the professional health sector,” said Saucillo. In CASA’s hospital, professional midwives assist in all the phases of childbirth, but a doctor is also available in case of any complications.

In addition to the money it receives from its daycare and kindergarten, CASA is supported financially by international foundations and the state and national governments to a varying degree, depending on what programs are approved for funding. 

San Miguel Women’s Institute

The Women’s Institute also offers psychological and legal support to women who are abused or abandoned. “If a woman needs a lawyer to file a report of abuse and she does not have the money, we show her how to get free legal support,” said Araceli Martínez, head of the Women’s Institute.

Martínez said it is a long and difficult process for women to get child support from their husbands or partners. “It is also difficult for women to file charges against their partners for domestic violence, since they are afraid of them. Finally, when they do decide to report abuse, the district attorney’s office generally tends to convince them to reconcile. The woman drops the charges, but the abuse continues. If it is the first time a woman reports domestic violence, it is not legally considered domestic violence because it has to be a recurring situation. We are fighting to change those laws.”

According to 2005 statistics, 47 percent of the reported cases of domestic violence against women were instances of psychological and emotional abuse. 

DIF

The government’s Family Integral Development Department (DIF) also supports women who are victims of domestic violence. “We teach them about self-esteem, violence prevention, personal health, cooking and how to buy inexpensive, nutritional products such as soy,” said Gabriela Bibriesca, director of the local DIF.

Bibriesca said that DIF also offers exercise programs for older mothers, along with literacy classes, zumba and handicrafts. “We also have a meal program and offer psychological counseling, as well as programs to help elderly mothers get dental care, glasses and hearing aids,” said Bibriesca.

On May 14, DIF will celebrate the mothers from rural communities with a special event. Bibriesca said they are expecting about 800 mothers from rural communities who take part in the meal program. 

Grandmothers team up for health

As part of DIF’s exercise program, a group of women, most over 60, meets up to play “cachibolo,” a version of volleyball designed for older people.

Ana Cristina Guerrero, the team’s trainer, said, “We are trying to help older women recover their physical abilities, mobility, flexibility, strength and resistance. It is also motivation and recreation for them.”

Guadalupe Aguilar, a 66-year-old mother of nine children from colonia Aurora, said she has enjoyed playing since she joined the team a year ago. Antonia Granados, 62, lives near Atotonilco and is the mother of nine children. “I enjoy playing cachibolo and at the same time it is a recreation time for me and an opportunity to make friends. In the house there is only work, stress and worries,” she said.

María Salud Robledo, 72, a mother of 10 children who lives in Guadiana, said, “I knew of this activity because I used to pass in front of the DIF and see them playing. One of my daughters convinced me to come because being at home all day made me feel sad and depressed. At first, I felt ashamed to come, but now I have made friends and I enjoy it a lot. I only come on Wednesdays because I have osteoporosis and the doctor told me not to do too much exercise.”

More than a matter of class

Tania, a 30-year-old mother, said that “life for a middle-class, single mother is very difficult. There is support for poor mothers, but there is no support for a middle-class woman like me who is alone and has to support a baby, which is quite expensive. If you want to do something for personal improvement, for professional development in order to give your baby a better future, you find yourself submerged in a sea of credit debts. It is not only the money aspect. One feels alone as a single mother, without support. And when you get home, you have to put a smile on your face so that your baby does not feel the stress you have inside. These are two heavy burdens for a middle-class, single mother.”

Awesome mothers
By Kennedy Poyser

Mitochondrial Eve is the “matrilineal most recent common ancestor” for all currently living humans. Passed down from mother to offspring, her mitochondrial DNA is now found in all living humans. She lived about 140,000 years ago in East Africa. 

Medea, in the Euripides tragedy, resorted to filicide before her flight to Athens. Euripides was the first to show that she hadn’t killed her children because she was mad or a barbarian, but because she was furious at Jason for leaving her to marry a princess.

Agrippina, the granddaughter of Augustus, managed to marry Emperor Claudius, who was also her uncle. Agrippina thought that her boy Nero would make a good emperor, so after the suspicious death of Claudius, Nero became the Emperor of Rome. He plotted her demise, but murder wasn’t so easy, and it took Nero a few tries to get it right. After poison, a falling ceiling and a collapsible boat failed, Nero abandoned the unorthodox and hired some thugs with daggers..

Boudicca was a freedom fighter who rebelled against the Romans in the only viable challenge to their supremacy in Britain. Boudicca’s warriors were more than a little intimidating. They virtually routed the Ninth Legion and marched on London. Nero’s general Paulinus at last faced Boudicca, possibly in the Midlands, and a desperate battle was fought. Although the Romans won, they regained the province at great price. Faced with defeat, the Queen took her own life by drinking from a poisoned chalice.

Galla Placidia, the last Roman empress, died on November 27, 450. Her final resting place is unknown: many doubt whether the so-called Mausoleum of Galla Placidia in Ravenna is actually her tomb. She or her son probably built it as a chapel, not as a tomb. She exemplifies the strong-willed imperial women who exercised great influence in the fifth century in default of effective male leadership.

Wu Zetian ruled during the most glorious years of the Tang dynasty, the only female in Chinese history to rule as emperor. To some she was an autocrat, ruthless in her desire to gain and keep power. To others she, as a woman doing a “man's job,” merely did what she had to do, and acted no differently from most male emperors of her day. She also effectively ruled China during one of its more peaceful and culturally diverse periods. She said that the ideal ruler was one who ruled like a mother does over her children. In 705, she was pressured to give up the throne in favor of her third son, who was waiting in the wings all those years. Wu Zetian died peacefully at age 80 the same year.

Eleanor of Aquitaine was one of the most powerful and fascinating personalities of feudal Europe. At age 15 she married Louis VII, King of France. At age 19, she offered Abbé Bernard thousands of her vassals for the Second Crusade. Eleanor, attended by 300 of her ladies, also went to help tend the wounded.

In 1152 her marriage to the king was annulled and her vast estates reverted to Eleanor’s control. Within a year, at age 30, she married 20- year-old Henry who two years later became king of England.

Eleanor is noteworthy today because she brought us literary romance. Her glittering kingdom was the very heart of chivalry and the troubadours who spread popular songs of love.

Catherine the Great was a dutiful daughter, frustrated wife, passionate lover, domineering mother, doting grandmother, devoted friend, tireless legislator, and generous patron of artists and philosophers. Her reign, the longest in Russian Imperial history, lasted from 1762 until her death in 1796; during those years she built on the work begun by her most famous predecessor, Peter the Great, to establish Russia as a major European power and to transform its new capital, St. Petersburg, into a city to rival Paris and London. Yet the great Catherine was not even Russian by birth and had no legitimate claim to the Russian throne; she seized it and held on to it, through wars, rebellions and plagues, by the force of her personality, by her charm and determination, and by an unshakable belief in her own destiny.

Marie Laveau, the undisputed Queen of Voodoo, was the source of hundreds of tales of terror and wonder in New Orleans. She was born on Santo Domingo in 1794, and during her long life she gave birth to fifteen children.

Marie had an imaginative mind and has been credited with changing Voodoo into much more than just an African superstition. It was Marie who brought the Virgin Mary into Voodoo as the central figure of worship and she borrowed freely to bring Catholic traditions into the culture.

Marie died in June of 1881 but many people never realized that she was gone. Her daughter stepped in and took her place and continued her traditions for decades to follow.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton was one of the first leaders of the American womans rights movement. An excellent writer and speaker, she and Susan B. Anthony formed the National Woman Suffrage Association in 1869 and worked together to secure women’s right to vote. Throughout her life, Stanton was a spokesperson for the rights of women and her daughter, Harriot Stanton Blatch, carried on her mother’s work. 

Welcome!

Municipal authorities began a crackdown on unregistered accommodations which compete unfairly with legally registered, tax-paying businesses and constitute substantial levels of tax evasion.

To engage the support of tourists for legally registered accommodations the ministry of Tourism (SECTUR) and the Tax department (Hacienda) have launched a media campaign. 

“Welcome…tax paying lodging industry helps to improve touristic sites and services” states a colorful postcard that can be found in centrally located offices and tourism sites.

Although rental properties are the first target, all unregistered businesses will in time be required to comply with recently approved municipal regulations for use of land.

According to Ernesto Saavedra Cardoso, coordinator of Enlace y Gestión in the urban development department, property owners will have to confirm the land use of their properties with city authorities. This requirement is based on an amendment to the municipal Reglamento de Zonificación (Zoning Regulation) which was officially published in February this year.

During 2004-2005, the city conducted a campaign inviting such businesses to register or face fines.


Required documents 

The documents required to register property for accommodation purposes are: 

Land titles duly registered with the land registry office (Registro Público de Propiedad)

Business registration with the tax department (Acta Constitutiva en Secretaría de Hacienda y Crédito Público)

Copy of land tax payment (predial)

Copy of the original architectural plans

Security approval from the civil protection department (Departamento de Protección Civil)

All documents are to be presented at the office of Ernesto Saavadra at Desarrollo Urbano (urban development department), Presidencia (City Hall) on the Salida a Querétaro. Office hours are Monday–Friday, 8:30am–4pm; tel: 120-4183, 120-4585, ext. 182 and 183.

Walk and enjoy the view!

¡Disfruta la Vista! (Enjoy the View) is the new campaign to encourage visitors and residents to park their cars and walk around the town. More than three thousand vehicles pass thru the city center per hour so parking in one of the seven estacionamientos (parking lots) located on the edge of the Historic Center makes more than just sense.

City rezoning policy will make some street parking illegal with fines of more than $760 pesos. Street parking along calle Canal between Zacateros and San Antonio Abad will soon be prohibited and deliveries will be restricted to certain hours.

Widening sidewalks, the Traffic conference in February 2008, changing bus routes and this campaign all form part of the municipal vision to improve traffic flow and the historic center.

A new route into Centro

Changes to local bus routes, due to extensive road repairs to main city streets, will soon become permanent new routes.

 Following the recommendations by logistics consultant Miguel Alceda of Soporte de Empresas de Transporte, S.C. (SET Consulting) the five bus routes that congest and pollute the centrally located calle Hernandez Macias will be redirected through the neighborhood San Juan de Dios. 

Studies by the group of experts revealed that more than 400 vehicles transit Hernández Macias per hour. Consequently the buses from San Antonio, Unida Deportiva, Malanquín (yellow line), Capillas, and Allende were redirected via Zacateros, Canal, San Antonio Abad to Insurgentes to return to the Centro.

Municipal Traffic director Samuel Mercadillo and City Secretary Cristóbal Finkelstein announced that changes to public transportation aims to reduce transportation times and improve traffic flow through the historic center. 

According to Mercadillo “delays in the public transportation network will decrease resulting in savings of up to 10 minutes.” 

For Finkelstein the change represents a much needed step towards the solution of the city’s traffic problems and makes walking into the center a healthy option.


Changes to traffic flow 

Calle San Antonio Abad: from Canal to Callejon de Pilancón, one-way from South to North

Calle San Antonio Abad: from Callejón de Pilancón to Insurgentes two-way

Beneficiencia from Callejón de Pilancón to Canal one-way from north to south

Callejón de Pilancon one way East to West

Callejón Blanco one way from West to East



Bus stops: 

Zacateros, between Pila Seca & Umarán

Cnr San Antonio Abad & Pilancón 

Cnr Insurgentes & Quebrada 

Cnr Quebrada & Volanteros 

José Luis Álvarez González faces 22-year sentence 

Marco Antonio Garza Herrera, director de Control de Procesos in the Ministerio Pública confirmed last week that serial rapist José Luis Álvarez González continues behind bars and will soon face final audience and sentencing.

Álvarez González was arrested July 6, 2006 for the rape of five expat women over a ten-month period.

According to Garza, progress in the case has not been hampered by the replacement of two judges during the past two years. He explained that the Mexican legal system is different from the US system and takes a different amount of time to reach sentencing, but expressed confidence that the case was in its final stages.

Álvarez González faces a sentence of eight to 15 years according to article 180 (Crimes against Sexual Freedom) of the Penal Code of Guanajuato, with an additional four to 7 years for attacking victims in their homes (article 182).