Reclaiming Life from Streets of Death
Aug 23, 2014
Reclaiming Life from Streets of Death
FSN News: On a recent afternoon, dozens of pretty white handkerchiefs fluttered in the breeze from the fence of the Benito Juarez Monument in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Embroidered in beautiful blue, green and red letters, the words spelled out very ugly messages:
October 13, 2013 Juarez, Chihuahua
A man known as Lucky was executed in Lomas de Poleo…
Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua
October 4, 2010
Eileen Armendariz
6 years old
Murdered during a robbery
She was a student of Canutillo School, where she was going with her sister..
And on and on the handkerchiefs went. The display was the work of Bordeamos Por la Paz, or We Stitch for Peace, an international movement of people who meticulously sew socially relevant messages for public viewing. In Mexico, the movement’s goal is “to preserve the memory” of victims of “homicides, femicides and forced disappearance,” said local activist Hazel Davalos. Every second Sunday, activists exhibit the handkerchiefs at the Benito Juarez Monument, she added.
Davalos’ colleague, Madga Rojero, elaborated on Bordeamos Por la Paz’s goal. “It is to construct a memory,” she said. “Every dead or disappeared person has a right to be on a handkerchief. It’s a silent protest. It’s an act of love.”
The handkerchiefs selected for display at the monument document the fates of Mexicans, some named and some anonymous, who fell victim to violence during the last few years. They were cops, gang-bangers, hamburger sellers, students fathers, sons, daughters and mothers. Many of the cases are from 2010- an especially violent year among many- and most happened in Ciudad Juarez or elsewhere in the state of Chihuahua.
A few other samples:
Jimenez, Chihuahua
October 16, 2010
2 people decapitated…
Urique, Chihuahua
October 4, 2010
6 men murdered with firearms..2 are minors
January 30, 2010
Victims of Villas de Salvarcar (Ciudad Juarez)
Jaime Rosales Cisneros, 42-contractor-saw hit men blocking off the street and ran toward the party where his son was but was shot in the back.
“He died shot in the back but managed to save his son.”
Rojero considers the handkerchiefs a small contribution in the reconstruction of a shattered social fabric, and a tool for teaching future generations not to repeat the mistakes of previous ones. “Every little grain of sand makes a difference,” she told Frontera NorteSur. “I can’t allow my heart to stop.”
More:
http://americasmexico.blogspot.com/2014/08/reclaiming-life-from-streets-of-death.html